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GAMBETTA PROCLAIMING THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE 




N^TION^L NOVELS 


The Plebiscite 


A Miller s Story of the IV ar 


BY ONE OF THE 7,500,000 WHO VOTED “YES” 


TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF 

ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN 


ILL USTRA TED 


NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNERS SON’S 



-- r ■ i 



Copyright, 1889, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 


^Srt. Mrs, ‘T. J. PwitsE, Jri Maj 194^ 


TROW’S 



I 


3^. rs.n^^ 


INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 


The present volume serves to emphasize the 
important connection, so generally now lost sight of, 
between the plebiscite of 1870 in France and the 
war with Prussia which so speedily followed. Under 
the administration of Olhvier, which promised an 
attractive extension of popular liberties, it will be 
remembered, the plehiscitum of the Eoman Consti- 
tution was borrowed, to give an air of popular 
approval to tne strongly attacked Imperial regime 
by taking the sense of the people through universal 
suffrage as to the continuance of the Imperial author- 
ity on its then existing basis. Of the web of chicane 
and corruption by which the election was brought 
out an overwhelming triumph for Imperialism, MM. 
Erckmann-Chatrian give a clearer and more impres- 
sive notion in this book than could be obtained from 
entire volumes of parliamentary reports and whole 
files of newspapers. But they make it especially 
clear how the people were persuaded to return a 
majority of “ yeses ” so enormous as to make it im- 
possible to account for it on the theory of mere 
corruption and chicane. It is evident from this 
narrative that the people were made to believe that 


4 


INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 


the Empire meant peace abroad and freedom from 
foreign complications then threatening, as well as 
tranquUity at home, and that therefore one of the 
profoundest instincts of twenty millions of peasantry 
was utilized in order to be subsequently betrayed. 

No authors could have been so happily chosen to 
write the story of the struggle which followed. 
Alsace and Lorraine, at once the scene of the earliest 
campaign of the war and the victims of its result, fur- 
nish the most appropriate backgi'ountl of such a pic- 
ture. In reading these adventures, sufferings, medita- 
tions, and discussions of the simple yet shrewd Alsa- 
tian miller and his neighbors, the reader will take in 
almost at a glance the causes, incidents, and conse- 
quences of one of the greatest of modern wars. The 
corruption of the office-holding classes, the ignorance 
of the army officers whose ranks had been fiUed by 
favoritism, the bravery of the private soldier ill- 
equipped, ill-fed, and disastrously led, the contrast- 
ing system and discipline of the Prussians, the 
awakening by Gambetta of the national enthusiasm, 
and the determined and dogged fighting under 
Chanzy, Faidherbe, and Bourbaki, how the peasants 
fared at the hands of the enemy, and how the enemy 
conducted themselves during the brief campaign are 
all unfolded before the reader with a combined ful- 
ness and incisiveness difficult to encounter elsewhere 
in narratives of this momentous conflict. 


THE PLEBISCITE 


on 

A MILLER’S STORY OF THE WAR 


CHAPTER I. 

I AM writing this history for sensible people. 
It is my own story during the calamitous war we 
have just gone through. I write it to show those 
who shall come after us how many evil-minded 
people there are in the world, and how little we 
ought to trust fair words ; for we have been de- 
ceived in this village of ours after a most abom- 
inable fashion; we have been deceived by all 
sorts of people — by the sous-pref ets, by the pref ets, 
and by the Ministers ; by the cures, by the official 
gazettes ; in a word, by each and all. 

Could any one have imagined that there are so 
many deceivers in this world? No, indeed; it 
requires to be seen with one’s own eyes to be be- 
lieved. 


6 


STORY OF THE PLFBISGITE. 


In the end we have had to pay dearly. We 
have given np onr hay, our straw, our corn, our 
flour, our cattle ; and that was not enough. Fi- 
nally, they gave up us^ our own selves. They said 
to us : “ You are no longer Frenchmen ; you are 
Prussians ! We have taken your young men to 
fight in the war ; they are dead, they are prison- 
ers : now settle with Bismarck any way you like ; 
your business is none of ours ! ” 

But these things must be told plainly : so 1 
will begin at the beginning, without getting 
angry. 

You must know, in the first place, that I am a 
miller in the village of Pothalp, in the valley of 
Metting, at Dosenheim, between Lorraine and 
Alsace. It is a large and fine village of 130 
houses, possessing its cure Daniel, its schoolmas- 
ter Adam Fix, and principal inhabitants of every 
kind — wheelwrights, blacksmiths, shoemakers, 
tailors, publicans, brewers, dealers in eggs, butter, 
and poultry; we even have two Jews, Solomon 
Kaan, a pedler, and David Hertz, cattle-dealer. 

This will show you what was our state of pros- 
perity before this war ; for the wealthier a village 
is, the more strangers it draws : every man finds 
a livelihood there, and works at his trade. 

We had not even occasion to fetch our butch- 
er’s-meat from town. David killed a cow now 
and then, and retailed all we wanted for Sundays 
and holidays. 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


1 


I, Christian Weber, have never been farther 
than thirty leagues from this commune. I im 
herited my mill from my grandfatlier, Marcel 
Desjardins, a Frenchman from the neighborhood 
of Metz, who had built it in the time of the 
Swedish war, when our village was but a miser- 
able hamlet. Twenty-six years ago I married 
Catherine Amos, daughter of the old forest-ranger. 
She brought me a hundred louis for her dowiy. 
We have two children — a daughtei-, Gredel, and 
a son, Jacob, who are still with us at home. 

I have besides a cousin, George Weber, who 
went off more than thirty years ago to serve in 
the Marines in Guadaloupe. lie has even been 
on active service there. It was he who beat 
the drum on the forecastle of the ship Boussole, 
as he has told me a hundred times, whilst the 
fleet was bombarding St. John d’Ulloa. After- 
wards he was promoted to be sergeant; then he 
sailed to North America, for the cod fisheries; 
and again into the Baltic, on board a small Danish 
vessel engaged in the coal-trade. George was al- 
ways intent upon making a fortune. About 1850 
lie returned to Paris, and established a manufac^ 
tory of matches in the Hue Mouffetard in Paris ; 
and as he is really a very handsome tall man, with 
a dark complexion, bold looking, and with a quick 
eye, he at last married a rich widow without 
children, Madame Marie Anne Finck, who was 
keeping an inn in that neighborhood. They grew 


8 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


rich. They bought land in our part of the coun- 
try through the agency of Monsieur Fingado, the 
solicitor, to whom he sent regularly the price of 
every piece of land. At last, on the death of the 
old carpenter, Joseph Briou, he became the pur- 
chaser of his house, to live there with his wife, 
and to keep a public-house on the road to Mel- 
ting. 

This took place last year, during the time of 
the Plebiscite, and Cousin George came to inspect 
his house before taking his wife, Marie Anne, to 
it. 

I was mayor ; I had received orders from M. 
le Sous-prefet to give public notice of the Plebis- 
cite, and to request all well-disposed persons to 
vote “ P 65 ,” if they desired to preserve peace / 
because all the ruffians in the country were going 
to vote A^, to have war. 

This is exactly what I did, by making every- 
body promise to come without fail, and sending 
the hangard Martin Kapp to carry the voting 
tickets to the very farthest cottages up the moun- 
tains. 

Cousin George arrived the evening before the 
Plebiscite. I received him very kindly, as one 
ought to receive a rich relation who has no chil- 
dren. He seemed quite pleased to see us, and 
dined with us in the best of tempers. He carried 

* An old word, probably from han garde; now garde cham- 
•pitre^ a kind of rural policeman. 


STORY OF THE PLFBISGITB. ^ 

with him in a small leathern trunk clothes, shoes, 
shirts — everything that he required. He was 
short of nothing. That day everything went on 
well ; but the next day, hearing the notices cried 
by the rural policeman, he went off to Eeibelhs 
brewery, which was full of people, and began to 
preach against the Plebiscite. 

I was just then at the mayoralty-house wearing 
my official scarf receiving the tickets, when sud- 
denly my deputy Placiard came to tell me, in 
high indignation, that certain miserable wretches 
were attacking the rider ; that one of them was 
at the Cruchon d’Or,” and that half the village 
were very nearly murdering him. 

Immediately I went down and ran to the pub- 
lic-house, where my cousin was calling them all 
asses, aflSrming that the Plebiscite was for war ; 
that the Emperor, the Ministers, the prefects, the 
generals, and the bishops were deceiving the 
people ; that all those men were acting a part to 
get our money from us, and much besides to the 
same purpose. 

I, from the passage, could hear him shouting . 
these things in a terrible voice, and I said to 
myself, “ The poor fellow has been drinking.” 

If George had not been my cousin ; if he had 
not been quite capable some day of disinheriting 
my children, I should certainly have arrested him 
at once, and had him conveyed under safe keep- 
ing to Sarrebourg ; but, on giving due weight to 
1 * 


10 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


these considerations, I resolved to put an end to 
this awkward l)iisiness, and I cried to the people 
who were crowding the passage, “ Make room, 
you fellows, make room ! ” 

Tliose enraged creatures, seeing the scarf, gave 
way in all directions ; and then discovering my 
cousin, seated at a table in the right-hand corner, 
I said : Cousin ! what are yon thinking of, to 
create such a scandal ? ” 

He, too, was abashed at the sight of the scarf, 
having served in the navy, and knowing that 
there is no man who claims more respect than a 
mayor ; that he has a right to lay hands upon you, 
and send you to the lock-up, and, if you resist, to 
send you as far as Sarrebourg and Haney. He- 
flecting upon this, he calmed down in a moment, 
for he had not been drinking at all, as I supposed 
at first, and he was saying these things without 
bitterness, without anger, conscientiously, and out 
of regard for his fellow-citizens. 

Therefore, he replied to me, quietly : “ Mr. 
Mayor, look after your plections ! See that cer- 
tain rogues up there — as there are rogues every- 
where — don’t stuff into the ballot-box handfuls of 
Yeses instead of lYoes while your back is turned. 
This has often happened ! And then pray don’t 
trouble yourself about me. In the Government 
Gazette, it is declared that every man shall be 
free to maintain his own opinions, and to vote as 


8T0R7 OF THE TLFDISOITE. H 

he pleases ; if my mouth is stopped, I shall pro- 
test in the newspapers.” 

Hearing that he would protest, to avoid a worse 
scandal I answered him : Say what you please ; 
no one shall declare that we have put any con- 
straint upon the elections; but, you men, you 
know what you have to do.” 

“ Yes, yes,” shouted all the people in the room 
and down the passage, lifting their hats. “ Yes, 
Monsieur le Maire ; we will listen to nothing at 
all. Whether they talk all day or say nothing, 
it is all the same to us.” 

And they all went off to vote, leaving George 
alone. 

M. le Cure Daniel, seeing them coming out, 
came from his parsonage to place himself at theii 
head. He had preached in the morning in favor 
of the Plebiscite, and there was not a single N'o 
in the box. 

If my cousin had not had the large meadow 
above the mill, and the finest acres in the country, 
he would have been an object of contempt for the 
rest of his days; but a rich man, who has just 
bought a house, an orchard, a garden, and has 
paid ready money for everything, may say what- 
ever he pleases : especially when he is not listened 
to, and the people go and do the very opposite of 
what he has been advising them. 

Well, this is the way with the elections for the 
Plebiscite with us, and just the same thing went 


12 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


on tbrougliout our canton : at Phalsbourg— 
which had been abundantly placarded against the 
Plebiscite, and where they carried their audacity 
even to watching the mayor and the ballot-box — 
out o£ fifteen hundred electors, military and civil, 
there were only thirty-two Woes. 

It is quite clear that things were making fav- 
orable progress, and that M. le Sous-prefet could 
not be otherwise than perfectly satisfied with our 
behavior. 

I must also mention that we were in want of a 
parish road to Hangeviller ; that we had been 
promised a pair of church-bells, and the glandee, 
or right of feeding our hogs upon the acorns in 
autumn; and that we were aware that all the 
villages which voted the wrong way got nothing, 
whilst the others — in consideration of the good 
councillors they had sent up, either to the arron- 
dissement or the department — might always 
reckon upon a little money from the tax-collector 
for the necessities of their parish. Monsieur le 
Sous-prefet had pointed out these advantages to 
me; and naturally a good mayor will inform his 
subordinates. I did so. Our deputies, our 
councillors-general, our councillors of the arron- 
dissement, were all on the right side ! By these 
means we have already gained the right to the 
dead leaves and our great wash-houses. We only 
sought our own good, and we much preferred 
seeing other villages pay the ministers, the sena* 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


13 


tors, the marshals, the bishops, and the princes, to 
paying them ourselves. So that all that Cousin 
George could say to us about the interest of all, 
and the welfare of the nation, made not the least 
impression upon us. 

I remember that that very day of the Plebiscite 
when it was already known that we had all voted 
right, and that we should get our two bells with 
the parish road — I remember that my cousin and 
I had, after supper, a great quarrel, and that I 
should certainly have put him out, if it had not 
been he. 

We were taking our jpetit verve of Mrsch, 
smoking our pipes, with our elbows on the table ; 
my wife and Gredel had already gone to bed, 
when all at once he said to me : “ Listen to me, 
Christian. Save the respect I owe you as mayor, 
you are all a set of geese in this village, and it is 
a very fortunate thing that I am come here, that 
you may have, at least, one sensible man among 
you.” 

I was going to get angry, but he said : 

Just let me finish ; if you had but spent a 
couple of years at Paris, you would see things a 
little plainer ; but at this moment, you are like a 
nest of hungry jays, blind and imfeathered ; they 
open their bills, and they cry ‘ Jaques,’ to call 
down food from heaven. Those who hear them 
climb up the tree, twist their necks, put them into 
the pot and laugh. That is your position. You 


14 


STORY OF THE RLtBISGlTE. 


have confidence in your enemies, and jon give 
them power to pluck you just as they please. If 
you appointed upright men in your districts as 
deputies, councillors general, instead of taking 
whoever the prefecture recommends, would not 
the Emperor and the other honorable men above 
be obliged then to leave you the money which the 
tax-collector makes you pay in excess \ Could all 
those people then enrich themselves at your ex- 
pense, and amass immense fortunes in a few 
years? Would you then see old baskets with 
their bottoms out, fellows whom you would not 
have trusted with a halfpenny before the coup- 
d^etat — would you see them become millionnaires, 
rolling in gold, gliding along in carriages with 
their wives, their children, their servants, and 
their ballet-dancers ? The prefets, the sous-prefets 
say to you ; ‘ Go on voting right, and you shall 
have this, you shall have that ’ — things which you 
have a right to demand in virtue of the taxes you 
pay, but which are granted to you as favors — 
roads, wash-houses, schools, etc. Would you not 
be having them in your own right, if the money 
which is taken from you were left in the Com- 
mune ? What does the Emperor do for you ? 
He plunders you — that is all. Your money, he 
shows it to you before each election, as they show 
a child a stick of sugar-candy to make it laugh ; 
and when the election is over he puts it back into 
liis pocket. The trick is played.” 


STORY OF THE PL^IBISGITE. 


15 


How can he put that money into his pocket ? ” 
I asked, full of indignation. Are not the ac- 
counts presented every year in the Chambers ? ” 
Upon this he shrugged his shoulders and an- 
swered : “ You are not sharp, Christian ; it is not 
so difficult to present accounts to the Chambers. 
So many chassepots — which have no existence ! 
So much munition of war, of which no one knows 
anything. So much for retiring pensions ; so 
much for the substitutes’ fund ; so much for 
changes of uniform. The uniforms are changed 
every year; that is good for business. Do the 
deputies inquire into these matters ? Who checks 
the Ministers’ budgets ? And the deputies whom 
the Minister of the Interior has recommended to 
you, whom you have appointed like fools, and 
whom the Emperor would throw up at the very 
first election, if those gentlemen breathed a sylla- 
ble about visiting the arsenals and examining 
into the accounts — what a farce it is ! Why, yes- 
terday, passing through Phalsbourg, I got upon 
the ramparts, and I saw there guns of the time 
of Herod, upon gun-carriages eaten up by worms 
and painted over to conceal the rottenness. Those 
very guns, I do believe, are recast every third or 
fourth year — upon paper — with your money. Ah, 
my poor Christian, you are not very sharp, nor the 
other people in our village either. But the men 
you send as deputies to Paris— they are sharp, toe 
sharp.” 


16 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


He broke out into a laugh, and I could have 
Bent him back to Paris. 

“ Do you know wliat you want ? ” said he then, 
filling his pipe and lighting it, for I made no re- 
ply, being too much annoyed ; “ what you want is 
not good sense, it is not honesty. All of us peas- 
ants, we still possess some good sense and honesty. 
And we believe, moreover, in the honesty of 
others, which proves that we ourselves have a lit- 
tle left ! ISTo, what you want is education ; you 
have asked for bells, and bells you will get ; but 
all the school you have is a miserable shed, and 
your only schoolmaster is old Adam Fix, who can 
teach his children nothing because he knows 
nothing himself. Well now, if you were to ask 
for a really good school, there would be no money 
in the public funds. There is money enougli for 
bells, but for a good schoolmaster, for a large, 
well-ventilated room, for deal benches and tables, 
for pictures, slates, maps, and books, there is 
nothing ; for if you had good schools, your chil- 
dren could read, write, keep accounts ; they would 
soon be able to look into the Ministers’ budgets, 
and that is exactly what his Majesty wishes to 
avoid. You understand now, cousin ; this is the 
reason why you have no school and you have 
bells.” 

Then he looked knowingly at me : 

“ And, do you know,” said he, after a few mo- 
ments’ thought, “ do you know how much all tlie 


STOEY OF THE ELilBlSCITE, 


17 


Bcliools in France cost? I am not referring to 
tlie great schools of medicine, and law, and chem- 
istry, the colleges, and the lyceums, which are 
schools for wealthy young men, able to keep 
themselves in large cities, and to pay for their 
own maintenance. I am speaking of schools for 
the people, elementary schools, where reading and 
writing are taught : the two first things wliich a 
man must know, and which distinguish him 
from the savages who roam naked in the Ameri- 
can forests ? Well, the deputies whom the peo- 
ple themselves send to protect their interests in 
Paris, and whose first thought, if they are not al- 
together thieves, ought to be to discharge their 
duty toward their constituencies — these deputies 
have never voted for the schools of the people a 
larger sum than seventy-five millions. The state 
contributes ten millions as its share; the com- 
mune, the departments, the fathers and mothers 
do the rest. Seventy-five millions to educate the 
people in a great country like ours ! it is a dis- 
grace. The United States spend six times the 
amount. But on the other hand, for the war 
budget we pay five hundred millions ; even that 
would not be too much if we had five hundred 
thousand men under arms, according to the cal- 
culation which has been made of what it costs per 
diem for each man ; but for an army of two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand men, it is too much by 
half. What becomes of the other three hundred 


IS STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

millions ? If they were made available to build 
schools, to pay able masters, to furnish retreats 
for workmen in their declining days, I should 
have nothing to say against it; but to jingle in 
the pockets of MM. the senators and to ring the 
bells of MM. the cures, I consider that too dear.’ 

As Cousin George bothered my mind with all 
his arguments, I felt a wish to go to bed, and I 
said to him : 

“ All that, cousin, is very fine, but it is getting 
late : and besides it has nothing to do with the 
Plebiscite.” 

I had risen ; but he laid his hand upon my 
arm and said : “ Let us talk a little longer — let 
me finish my pipe. You say that this has nothing 
to do with the Plebiscite ; but that Plebiscite is 
for all this nice arrangement of things to go on. 
If the nation believes that all is right, that enough 
money is left to it, and that it can even spare a 
little more ; that the ministers, the senators, and 
the princes are not yet sufiiciently fat and flour- 
ishing; that the Emperor has not bought enougli 
ill foreign countries; well, it will say with this 
Plebiscite, ‘ Go on, pray go on — we are quite sat- 
isfied.’ Does that suit your ideas? ” 

“ Yes. I had rather that than war,” said I, in 
a very bad temper. The Empire is peace ; I 
vote for peace.” 

Then George himself rose up, emptying his 
pipe on tlie edge of the table, and said: “ Chris’ 


STOnr OF THF PL^IBISGITB. 


19 


tian, yon are right. Let ns go to bed. I repent 
having bought old Brion’s honse ; decidedly the 
people in these parts are too stupid. Yon quite 
grieve me.’’ 

“ Oh, I don’t want to grieve you,” said I, an- 
grily ; “ I have quite as much sense as yon.” 

“ What I ” said he, “ yon the mayor of Eothalp, 
in daily communication with the sous-prefet, yon 
believe that the object of this Plebiscite is to 
confirm peace ? ” 

“ Yes, I do.” 

“ What, you believe that ? Come now. Have 
we not peace at the present moment? Do we 
want a Plebiscite to preserve it ? Do yon suppose 
that the Germans are taken in by it ? Our peas- 
ants, to be sure, are misled ; they are indoctrin- 
ated at the cure’s house, at the mayoralty -house, 
at the sous-prefecture ; but not a single workman 
in Paris is a dupe of this pernicious scheming. 
They all know that the Emperor and the Minis- 
ters want war ; that the generals and the superior 
officers demand it. Peace is a good thing for 
tradesmen, for artisans, for peasants ; but the 
officers are tired of being cramped up in the same 
rank perpetually without a rise. Already the in- 
ferior officers have been disgusted with the pro- 
fession through the crowds of nobles, Jesuits, and 
canting hypocrites of all sorts who are thrust into 
the army. The troops are not animated with a 
good spirit; they want promotion, or they will 


20 


STORY OF THE PLFBISGITE. 


end bj rousing themselves into a passion : especi 
ally when they see the Prussians under our nosea 
helping themselves to everything they please 
without asking our leave. You don’t understand 
that ! There,” said he, I am sleepy. Let us go 
to bed.” 

Then I began to understand that my cousin 
had learned many things in Paris, and that he 
knew more of politics than I did. But that did 
not prevent me from being in a great rage with 
him, for the whole of that day he had done nothing 
but cause trouble ; and I said to myself that it 
was impossible to live with such a brute. 

My wife, at the top of the landing, had heard 
us disputing ; but as we were going upstairs, she 
came all smiles to meet us, holding the candle, 
and saying : “ Oh, you have had a great deal to 
tell each other this evening! You must have 
had enough. Come, cousin, let me take you to 
your room; there it is. From your window you 
may see the woods in the moonlight ; and here 
is your bed, the best in the house. You will 
find your cotton nightcap under the pillow.” 

“ Very nice, Catherine, thank you,” said 
George. 

And I hope you will sleep comfortably,” 
said she, returning to me. 

This wise woman, full of excellent good sense, 
then said to me, while I was undressing : ‘‘ Chris- 
tian! what were you thinking of, to contradict 


STORY OF THE PLJ^BISGITE. 


21 


your cousin? Siicli a rich man, and who can do 
us so much good by and by! What does the 
Plebiscite signify ? What can that bring us in ? 
Whatever your cousin says to you, say ‘ Amen ’ 
after it. Kemember that his wife has relations, 
and she will want to get everything on her side. 
Mind you don’t quarrel with George. A fine 
meadow below the mill, and an orchard on the 
hill-side, are not found e^ery day in the way of 
a cow.” 

I saw at once that she was right, and I in- 
wardly resolved never to contradict George 
again: he might himself alone be worth to us 
far more than the Emperor, the Ministers, the 
senators, and all the establishment together ; for 
every one of those people thought of his own 
interests alone, without ever casting a thought 
upon us. Of course we ought to do the same 
as they did, since they had succeeded so well in 
sewing gold lace upon all their seams, fattening 
and living in abundance in this world; not to 
mention the promises that the bishops made to 
them for the next. 

Thinking upon these things, I lay calmly down, 
and soon fell asleep. 


22 


STORY OF THE PLtlBlSClTE, 


CHAPTER II. 

The next day early, Cousin George, my son 
Jacob, and myself, after having eaten a crust of 
bread and taken a glass of wine standing, har- 
nessed our horses, and put them into our two 
carts to go and fetch my cousin’s wife and fur- 
niture at the Lutzelbourg station. 

Before coming into our country, Geoi’ge had 
ordered his house to be whitewashed and painted 
from top to bottom; he had laid new floors, and 
replaced the old shingle roof with tiles. ]Now 
the paint was dry, the doors and windows stood 
open day and night; the house could not be 
robbed, for there was nothing in it. My cousin, 
seeing that all was right, had just written to his 
wife that she might bring their goods and chat- 
tels with her. 

So we started about six in the morning ; upon 
the I’oad the people of Hangeviller, of Metting, 
and Yechem, and those who were going to mar- 
ket in the town, were singing and shouting 
‘‘ Vive I’Empereur ! ” 

Everywhere they had voted “Yes,” for peace. 
It was the greatest fraud that had ever been 


STORY OF THE PLt]BISGlTE. 


23 


pei’petrated : by the way in which the Ministers, 
the prefects, and the Government newspapers 
had explained the Plebiscite, everybody had 
imagined that he had really voted peace. 

Cousin George hearing this, said, “ Oh, you 
oor country folks, how I pity you for being such 
imbeciles ! How I pity you for believing what 
these pickpockets tell you ! ” 

That was how he styled the Emperor’s govern- 
ment, and naturally I felt my indignation rise ; 
but Catherine’s sound advice came back into my 
mind, and I thought, “ Hold your tongue, Chris- 
tian ; don’t say a word — that’s your best plan.” 

All along the road we saw the same spectacle ; 
the soldiers of the 84:th, garrisoned at Phalsbourg, 
looked as pleased as men who have won the first 
prize in a lottery ; the colonel declared that the 
men who did not vote “ Yes ” would be unworthy 
of being called Frenchmen. Every man had 
voted “ Yes ; ” for a good soldier knows nothing 
but his orders. 

So having passed before the gate of France, 
we came down to the Baraques, and then reached 
Llitzelbourg. The train from Paris had passed 
a few minutes before ; the whistle could yet be 
heard under the Saverne tunnel. 

My cousin’s wife, with whom I was not yet 
acquainted, was standing by her luggage on the 
platform ; and seeing George coming up, she joy- 


24 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


fully cried, “Ah! is that you? and liere is 
cousin.” 

She kissed us both heartily, gazing at us, how- 
ever, with some surprise, perhaps on account of 
our blouses and our great wide-brimmed, black 
hats. But no ! it could not be that ; for Marie 
Anne Fiuck was a native of Wasselonne, in 
Alsace, and the Alsacians have always worn the 
blouse and wide-brimmed hat as long as I can 
remember. But this tall, thin woman, with her 
large brown eyes, as bustling, quick, and active 
as gunpowder, after having passed thirty years at 
Paris, having first been cook at Krantheimer’s, at 
a place called the Barriere de Montmartre, and 
then in five or six other inns in that great city, 
might well be somewhat astonished at seeing 
such simple people as we were ; and no doubt it 
also gave her pleasure. 

That is my idea. 

“ The carts are there, wife,” cried George, in 
high spirits. “We will load the biggest with as 
much furniture as we can, and put the rest upon 
the smaller one. You will sit in front. There — 
look up there — that’s the Castle of Liitzelbourg, 
and that pretty little wooden house close by, 
covered all over with vine, that is a ch41et. Father 
Hoffman-Forty’s chalet, the distiller of cordials* 
jrou know the cordial of Phalsbourg.” 

He showed her everything. 

Then we began to load; that big Y4ri, who 


STORY OF THE PLJ^BISCITE. 


25 


takes the tickets at the gate and who carries the 
parcels to Monsieur Andre’s omnibus, comes to 
lend ns a hand. The two carts being loaded 
about twelve o’clock, and my cousin’s wife seated 
in front of the foremost one upon a truss of 
straw, we started at a quiet pace for the village, 
where we arrived about three o’clock. But I 
remember one thing, which I will not omit to 
mention. As we were coming out of Liitzel- 
bourg, a heavy waggon-load of coal was coming 
down the hill, a lad of sixteen or seventeen 
leading the horse by the bridle ; at the door of 
the last house, a little child of five years old, 
sitting on the ground, was looking at our carts 
passing by ; he was out of the road, he could 
not be in any one’s way, and was sitting there 
perfectly quiet, when the boy, without any reason, 
gave him a lash with his whip, which made the 
child cry aloud. 

My cousin’s wife saw that. 

“ Wliy did that boy strike the child?” she in- 
quired. 

“ That’s a coal-heaver,” George answered. “ He 
comes from Sarrebriick. He is a Prussian. He 
struck the child because he is a French child.” 

Then jny cousin’s wife wanted to get down to 
fall upon the Prussian ; she cried to him, “ You 
great coward, you lazy dog, you wicked wretch, 
come and hit me.” And the boy would have 
come to settle her, if we had not been there to 
2 


26 


STORY OF THE PLtJBlSCITE. 


receive him ; but he would uot trust himself to 
us, and lashed his horses to get out of our reach, 
making all haste to pass the bridge, and turning 
his head round towards us, for fear of being fol- 
lowed. 

I thought at the time that Cousin George w'as 
wrong in saying this boy had a spite against the 
French because he was a Prussian ; but I learned 
afterwards that he was right, and that the 
Germans have borne ill-will against us for years 
without letting us see it — like a set of sulky fel- 
lows waiting for a good opportunity to make us 
feel it. 

“ It is our good man that we have to thank for 
this,” said George. “The Germans fancy that 
we have named liim Emperor to begin his uncle’s 
tricks again; and now they look upon our 
Plebiscite as a declaration of war. The joy of 
our sous-prefets, our mayors, and our cures, and 
of all those excellent people who only prosper 
upon the miseries of mankind, proves that they 
are not very far out.” 

“ Yes, indeed,” cried his wife ; “ but to beat a 
child, that is cowardly.” 

“Bah! don’t let us think about it,” said 
George. “We shall see much worse things than 
this ; and we shall have deserved it, through our 
own folly. God grant that I may be mistaken 1 ” 

Talking so, we arrived home. 

My wife had prepared dimer; there was kiss- 


STORY OF THE PLiiBTSCITE. 27 

ing all round, the acquaintance was made; wa 
all sat round the table, and dined with excellent 
appetites. Marie Anne was gay ; she had already 
seen their liouse on her way, and the garden be- 
hind it with its rows of gooseberry bushes and 
the plum-trees full of blossom. The two carts, 
the horses having been taken out, were standing 
before their door ; and from our windows might 
be seen the village people examining the furni- 
ture with great interest, hovering round and gaz- 
ing with curiosity upon the great heavy boxes, 
feeling the bedding, and talking together about 
this great qnantit}^ of goods, just as if it was their 
own business. 

They were remarking no doubt that our cousin 
George Weber and his wife were rich people, 
who deserved the respectful consideration of the 
whole country round ; and I myself, before see- 
ing these great chests, should never have dreamed 
that they could have so much belonging entirely 
to themselves. 

This proved to mo that my wife was perfectly 
right in continuing to pay every respect to my 
cousin ; she had also cautioned our daughter 
Gredel : as for Jacob, he is a most sensible lad, 
who thinks of everything and needs not to be 
told what to do. 

But what astonished us a great deal more, was 
to see arriving about half-past three two other 
large waggons from the direction of Wechem, 


28 


STORY OF TBE RL^BISCITE. 


and hearing mv cousin cry “Here comes my wine 
from Barr 1 ” 

Before coming to Eothalp lie had himself gone 
to Barr, in Alsace, to taste the wine and to make 
his own bargains. 

“ Come, Christian,” said lie, rising, “ we have 
no time to lose if we mean to unload before 
niglitfall. Take your pincers and your mallet;, 
you will also fetch ropes and a ladder to let the 
casks down into the cellar.” 

Jacob ran to fetch what was wanted, and we 
all came out together — my wife, my daughter, 
cousin, and everybody. My man Frantz re- 
mained alone at the mill, and immediately they 
began to undo the boxes, to carry the furniture 
into the house: chests of drawers, wardrobes, 
bedsteads, and quantities of plates, dishes, soup- 
tureens, etc., which were cariied straight into the 
kitchen. 

My cousin gave his orders : “ Put this down in 
a corner ; set that in another corner.” 

The neighbors helped us too, out of curiosity. 
Everything went on admirably. 

And then arrived the waggons from Barr ; but 
they were obliged to be kept waiting till seven 
o’clock. Our wives had already set up the beds 
and put away the linen in the wardrobes. 

About seven o’clock everything was in order 
in the house. We now thought of resting till to- 
morrow, when George said to us, turning up his 


STORY OF TRE PLEBISCITE. 


29 


sleeves, “ IS^ow, my friend, here comes the biggest 
part of the work. I always strike the iron while 
it’s hot. Let all the men who are willing help 
me to unload the casks, for the drivers want to 
get back to town, and I believe they are right.” 

Immediately the cellar was opened, the ladder 
Bet up against the first waggon, the lanterns 
lighted, the planks set leaning in their places, 
and until eleven o’clock we did nothing but un- 
load wide, roll down casks, let them down with 
my ropes, and put them in their places. 

Never had I worked as I did on that day ! 

Not before eleven o’clock did Cousin George, 
seeing everything settled to his satisfaction, seem 
pleased; he tapped the first cask, filled a jng 
with wine, and said, “ Now, mates, come up ; we 
will have a good draught, and then we will get 
to bed.” 

The cellar was shut up, so we drank in the 
large parlor, and then all, 9ne after another, went 
home to bed, upon the stroke of midnight. 

All the villagers were astonished to see how 
these Parisians worked : they were all the talk. 
At one time it was how cousin had bought up all 
the manure at the gendarmerie ; then how he had 
made a contract to have all his land drained in 
the autumn ; and then how he was going to build 
a stable and a laundry at the back of his house, 
and a distillery at the end of his yard : he was 
enlarging his cellars, already the finest in the 


HO STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

country. What a quantity of money he must 
have ! 

If he liad not paid Ins architect, the carpenters, 
and the masons cash down, it would liave been 
declared that he was ruining himself. But he 
never w^anted a penny ; and his solicitor always 
addressed him with a smiling face, raising his 
hat from afar off, and calling him “my dear 
Monsieur Weber.” 

One single thing vexed George : he had re- 
quested at the prefecture, as soon as he arrived, a 
license to open his public-house at the sign of 
“ The Pineapple.” He had even wntten three 
letters to SaiTebourg, but had received no an- 
swer. Morning and evening, seeing me pass by 
with my carts of grain and flour, he called to me 
through the window, “ Hallo, Christian, this way 
just a minute ! ” 

He never talked of anything else ; he even 
came to tease me at the mayoralty-house, to in- 
dorse and seal his letters with attestations as to 
his good life and character ; and yet no answer 
came. 

One evening, as I was busy si^piing the regis- 
tration of the reports drawn up in the week by 
the schoolmaster, he came in and said, “ Nothing 
yet ? ” 

“ Cousin, I don’t know the meaning of it.” 

“Very well,” said he, sitting before my desk 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


31 


‘‘ Give me some paper. Let me write for once, 
and then we will see.” 

He was pale with excitement, and began to 
write, reading it as he went on : 

“ Monsieur le Sous-peefet, — I have requested 
of you a license to open a public-house at 
Hothalp. I have even had the honor of writing 
you three letters upon the subject, and you have 
given me no answer. Answer me — ^yes or no! 
When people are paid, and well paid, they ought 
to fulfil their duty. 

“ Monsieur le Sous-prefet, I have the honor to 
salute you. 

“ George Weber, 

“ Late Sergeant of Marines^ 


Hearing this letter, my hair positively stood on 
end. 

“ Cousin, don’t send that,” said I ; “ the Sous- 
prefet w^ould very likely put you under arrest.” 

‘‘ Pooh ! ” said he, “ you countiy people, you 
seem to look upon these folks as if they were 
demigods ; yet tliey live upon our money. It is 
we who pay them : they are for our service, and 
nothing more. Here, Cliristian, will you put 
your seal to that ? ” 

Then, in spite of all that my wife might say, I 
replied, “ George, for the love of Hfjaven, don’t 


32 


STOUT OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 


ask me that. 1 should most assuredly lose m^ 
place.” 

“ What place % Your place as mayor,” said he, 
in which you receive the commands of the 
Sous-prefet, who receives the commands of the 
Prefet, who receives the orders of a Minister, who 
does everything that our honest man bids him. 
I had rather be a ragman than fill such a place.” 

The schoolmaster, who happened to be there, 
seemed as if he had suddenly dropped from the 
clouds; his arms hung down the sides of his 
chair, and he gazed at my cousin with big eyes, 
just as a man stares at a dangerous lunatic. 

I, too, was sitting upon thorns on hearing such 
words as these in the mayoralty-house; but at 
last I told him I had rather go myself to Sarre- 
bourg and ask for the permission than seal that 
letter. 

“ Then we will go together,” said he. 

But I felt sure that if he spoke after this 
fashion to Monsieur le Sous-prefet, he would lay 
hands upon both of us ; and I said that I should 
go alone, because his presence would put a con- 
siraint upon me. 

“Yery well,” he said; “but you will tell me 
everything that the Sous-prefet has been saying 
to you.” 

He tore up his letter, and we went out to- 
gether. 

I don’t remember that I ever passed a worse 


BTOnr OF THE PLi]BI8GITE. 


33 


night than that. My wife kept repeating to me 
that onr Cousin Geoi-ge had the precedence ove? 
the Sous-prefet, who only laughed at us ; that the 
Emperor, too, had cousins, who wanted to inherit 
everything from him, and that everybody ought 
to stick to their own belongings. 

f^^ext day, when I left for Sarrebourg, my head 
was in a whirl of confusion, and I thought that 
my cousin and his wife would have done well to 
have stayed in Paris rather than come and trouble 
us wlien we were at peace, when every man 
paid his own rates and taxes, when everybody 
voted as they liked at the prefecture. I could 
say that never was a loud word spoken at the 
public-house ; that people attended with regular- 
ity both mass and vespers ; that the gendarmes 
never visited our village more than once a week 
to preserve order ; and that I myself was treated 
with consideration and respect : when I spoke but 
a word, honest men said, “ That’s the truth \ 
that’s the opinion of Monsieur le Maire ! ” 

Yes, all these things and many more passed 
through my mind, and I should have liked to see 
Cousin George at Jericho. 

This is just how we were in our village, and I 
don’t know even yet by what means other people 
had made such fools of us. In the end, we have 
Iiad to pay dearly for it ; and our children ought 
to learn wisdom by it. 

At Sarrebourg, I had to wait two hours before 
2 * 


34 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


I conJd see Monsieur le Sous-prefet, wlio was 
breakfasting with messieurs the councillors of the 
arrondisseinent, in honor of the Plebiscite. 
Five or six mayors of the neighborhood were 
waiting like myself; we saw filing down the 
passage great dishes of fish and game, notwith- 
standing that the fishing and shooting seasons 
were over; and then baskets of wine; and we 
could hear our councillors laughing, “Ha! ha! 
ha ! ” They were enjoying themselves mightily. 

At last Monsieur le Sous-prefet came out ; he 
had had an excellent breakfast. 

“ Ha ! is that you, gentlemen ? ” said he : 
“ come in, come into the office.” 

And for another quarter of an hour we were 
left standing in the office. Then came Monsieur 
le Sous-prefet to get rid of the mayors, who 
wanted different things for their villages. lie 
looked delighted, and granted everything. At 
last, having despatched the rest, he said to me, 
“ Oh ! Monsieur le Maire, I know the object of 
your coming. You are come to ask, for the per- 
son called George Weber, authorization to open 
a public-house at Kothalp. Well, it’s out of the 
question. That George Weber is a Eepublican ; 
lie has already offered opposition to the Plebis- 
cite. You ought to have notified this to me : you 
have screened him because he is your cousin. 
Authorizations to keep public-houses are granted 
to steady men, devoted to his Majesty the Em- 


ST0R7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


35 


peror, and who keep a watch over their (justom- 
ers ; but they are never granted to men who re 
quire watching themselves. You should be aware 
of that.” 

Then I perceived that my rascally deputy, that 
miserable Placiard, had denounced us. That old 
dry-bones did nothing but draw up perpetual pe- 
titions, begging for places, pensions, tobacco ex- 
cise offices, decorations for himself and his hon- 
orable family; speaking incessantly of his ser 
vices, his devotion to the dynasty, and his claims. 
His claims were the denunciations, the informa- 
tions which he laid before the Sous-prefecture ; 
and, to tell the truth, in those days these were the 
most valid claims of all. 

I was indignant, but I said nothing ; I simply 
added a few words in favor of Cousin George, as- 
suring Monsieur le Sous-prcfet that lies had been 
told about him, that one should not believe every- 
thing, etc. He half concealed a weary yawn ; 
and as the councillors of the arrondissement were 
laughing in the garden, he rose and said politely, 
‘‘ Monsieui* le Maire, you have your answer. Be- 
sides, you already have two public-houses in your 
village ; three would be too many.” 

It was useless to stay after that, so I made a 
bow, at which he seemed pleased, and returned 
quietly to Both alp. The same evening I went to 
repeat to George, word for word, the answer of 
the sous-prefet. Instead of getting angry, as I 


36 


STORY OF THIS PL^JEISCITE. 


expected, my cousin listened calmly. His wife 
only cried out against that bad lot — she spoke of 
all the sous-prefets in the most disrespectful man- 
ner. But my cousin, smoking his pipe after sup- 
per, took it all very easily. 

“ Just listen to me, Christian,” said he. In 
the first place, I am much obliged to you for the 
trouble you have taken. All that you tell me I 
knew beforehand ; but I am not sorry to know it 
for certain. Yet I could wish that the Sous-pre- 
fet had had my letter. As it is, since I am re- 
fused a license to sell a few glasses of wine re- 
tail, I will sell wine wholesale. I have already a 
stock of white wine, and no later than to-morrow 
1 am off to Nancy. I buy a light cart and a good 
horse ; thence I drive to Thiancourt, where I lay 
in a stock of red wine. After that I rove right 
and left all over the country, and I sell my wine 
by the cask or the quarter-cask, according to the 
solvency of my customers : instead of having one 
public-house, I will have twenty. I must keep 
moving. With an inn, Marie Anne would still 
have been obliged to cook ; she has quite enough 
to do without that.” 

“ Oh ! yes,” she said ; “ for thirty years I have 
been cooking dishes of sauerkraut and sausage at 
Krantheimer’s, at Montmartre, and at Auber’s, in 
the cloister St. Benoit.” 

“ Exactly so,” said George ; “ and now you 
shall cook no longer ; but you shall look after the 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


37 


crops, the stacking of the hay, the storage of fruit 
and potatoes. We shall get in our dividends, and 
I will trot round the country with my little pony 
from village to village. Monsieur le Sous-prefet 
shall know that George Weber can live without 
him.” 

Hearing this, I learned that they had money in 
the funds, besides all the rest ; and I reflected 
that my cousin was quite right to laugh at all the 
sous-prefets in the world. 

He came with me to the door, shaking hands 
with me ; and I said to myself that it was abom- 
inable to have refused a publican’s license to re- 
spectable persons, when they gave it to such men 
as Nicolas Heiter and Jean Kreps, whom their 
own wives called their best customers because 
they dropped under the table every evening and 
had to be carried to bed. 

On the other hand, I saw that ft was better for 
me ; for if my cousin had been found infringing 
the law, I should have had to take depositions, 
and there would have been a quarrel with Cousin 
George. So that all was for the best ; the whole- 
sale business being only the exciseman’s affair. 

What George had said, he did next day. At 
six o’clock he was already at the station, and in 
five or six days he had returned from Nancy 
upon his own char-a-banc, drawn by a strong 
horse, five or six years old, in its prime. The 
char-a-banc was a new one; a tilt could be put 


38 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


up in wet weather, which could be raised or low 
ered when necessary to deliver the wdne or re* 
ceive back the empty casks. 

The wine from Thian court followed. George 
stored it immediately, after having paid the bill 
and settled with the carter. I was standing by. 

As for telling you how many casks he had then 
in the house, that would be difficult without ex- 
amining his books ; but not a wine-merchant in 
the neighborhood, not even in town, could boast 
of such a vault of wine as he had, for excellence of 
quality, for variety in price, both red and white, 
of Alsace and Lorraine. 

About that time, my cousin sent for me and 
Jacob to make a list of safe customers. He 
wrote on, asking us, “ How much may I give to 
So-and-So?” 

So much.” 

“ How much to that man ? ” 

“ So much.” 

In the course of a single afternoon we had 
passed in review all the innkeepers and publicans 
from Droulingen to Quatre Yents, from Quatre 
Vents to the Dagsberg. Jacob and I knew what 
they were worth to the last penny ; for the man 
who pays readily for his flour, pays well for his 
wine; and those who want pulling up by the 
miller are in no hurry to open their purses to the 
others 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


39 


That was the way Cousin George conducted 
his business. 

He took a lad from our place, the son of the 
cooper Gros, to drive ; and he himself was sales- 
man. 

From that day he was only seen passing 
through Rothalp at a quick trot, his lad loading 
and unloading. 

My cousin, also, had a notion of distilling in 
the winter. He bought up a quantity of old 
second-hand barrels to hold the fruits which he 
hoped to secure at a cheap rate in autumn, and 
laid up a great store of firewood. Our country 
people had nothing to do but to look at him to 
learn something ; but the people down our way 
all think themselves so amazingly cleyer, and that 
does not help to make folks richer. 

Well, it is plain to you that our cousin’s pros- 
pects were looking very bright. Every day, re- 
tuniing from his journey to Saverne or to Phals- 
bourg, he would stop his cart before my door, 
and come to see me in the mill, crying out: 
“ Hallo ! good afternoon, Christian. How are 
you to-day ? ” 

Then we used to step into the back parlor, on 
account of the noise and the dust, and we talked 
about the price of corn, cattle, provender, and 
everything that is interesting to people in our 
condition. 

What astonished him most of all was the num- 


40 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

ber of Germans to be met with in the mountains 
and in the plains. 

“ I see nobody else,” said he ; “ wood-cutters, 
biewers’ men, coopers, tinkers, photographers, 
contractors. I will lay a wager, Christian, that 
your young man Frantz is a German, too.” 

Yes ; he comes from the Grand Duchy of 
Baden.” 

“ How does this happen ? ” asked George. 
“ What is the meaning of it all ? ” 

“ They are good workmen,” said I, “ and they 
ask only half the wages.” 

“ And ours — what becomes of them ? ” 

“Ah, you see. Cousin George, that is their 
business.” 

“ I understand,” he said, “ that we are making 
a great mistake. Even in Paris, this crowd 
of Germans — crossing-sweepers, shop and ware- 
housemen, carters, book-keepers, professors of 
every kind — astonished me ; and since Sadowa, 
there are twice as many. The more territory 
they annex, the farther they extend their view. 
Where is the advantage of our being Frenchmen 
— paying every year heavier taxes ; sending our 
children to be drawn for the conscription, and 
paying for their exemption ; bearing all the ex- 
penses of tne State, all the insults of the prefets, 
the sous-prefets, and the police-inspectors, and the 
annoyances of corimon spies and informers, if 
those fellows, who have nothing at all to bear. 


STORY OF THE PL^IBISOITE. 


41 


enjoy the same advantages with ourselves, and 
even greater ones ; since our own people are sent 
off to make room for these, who by their great 
numbers lower the price of hand-labor? This 
benefits the manufacturers, the contractors, the 
bourgeois class, but it is misery for the mass of 
the people. I cannot understand it at all. Our 
rulers, up there, must be losing their senses. If 
that goes on, the working-men will cease to care 
for their country, since it cares so little for them ; 
and the Germans who are favored, and who hate 
us, will quietly put us out of our own doors.” 

Thus spoke my cousin, and I knew not what 
answer to make. 

But about this time I had a great trouble, and 
although this affair is my private business alone, 
I must tell you about it. 

Since the arrival of George, my daughter Gre- 
del, instead of looking after our business as she 
used to do, washing clothes, milking cows, and so 
on, was all the blessed day at Marie Anne’s. Ja- 
cob complained, and said : “ What is she about 
down there ? By and by I shall have to prepare 
the clothes for the wash and hang them upon the 
hedges to dry, and churn butter. Cannot Gredel 
do her own work ? Does she think we are her 
servants ? ” 

He was right. But Gredel never troubled her- 
self. She never has thought of any one besides 
herself. She was down there along with George’^ 


4:9 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

wife, who talked to her from morning till night 
about Paris, the grand squares, the markets, the 
price of eggs and of meat, what was charged at 
the barrieres ; of this, that, and the other : cook- 
ing, and what not. 

Marie Anne wanted company. But this did 
not suit me at all ; and the less because Gredel 
had had a lover in the village for some time, and 
when this is the case, the best thing to be done is 
always to keep your daughter at home and watch 
her closely. 

It was only a common clerk at a stone-quarry 
in Wilsberg, a late artillery sergeant, Jean Bap- 
tiste Werner, who had taken the liberty to cast 
his eyes upon our daughter. We liad nothing to 
say against this young man. He was a fine, tall 
man, thin, with a bold expression and brown 
mustaches, and who did his duty very well at 
the quarry by Father Heitz; but he could earn 
no more than his three francs a day : and any 
one may see that the daughter of Christian Weber 
was not to be thrown away upon a man who 
earns three francs a day. Ho, that would never 
do. 

nevertheless, I had often seen this Jean Bap- 
tiste Werner going in the morning to his work 
with his foot-rule under his arm, stopping at the 
mill-dam, as if to watch the geese and the ducks 
paddling about the sluice or the hens circling 
around the cock on the dunghill ; and at the 


JTORT OF THE PLMISCITE. 


43 


same moment Gredel would be slowly combing 
her hair at her window before the little looking- 
glass, leaning lier head outside. I had also no - 
ticed that they said good-morning to each other 
a good way off, and that that clerk always looked 
excited and fluri-ied at the sight of my daughter ; 
and I had even been obliged to give Gredel no- 
tice to go and comb her hair somewhere else 
when that man passed, or to shut her window. 

This is my case, simply told. 

That young man worried me. My wife, too, 
was on her guard. 

You may now understand why I should have 
preferred to have seen our daughter at home ; 
but it was not so easy to forbid her to go to my 
cousin’s. George and his wife might liave been 
angry ; and that troubled us. 

Fortunately about that time the eldest son of 
Father Heitz,* the owner of the quarry, asked 
for Gredel in marriage. 

For a long while. Monsieur Mathias Heitz, 
junior, had come every Sunday from Wilsberg to 
the “ Cruchon d’Or,” to amuse himself with 
Jacob, as young men do when they have inten- 
tions with regard to a family. He was a fine 
young man, fat, with red cheeks and ears, and 
always well dressed, with a flowered velvet waist- 


* It is usual there for fathers of families to be distin 
guished as Father So-and-So. 


44 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


coat, and seals to his watch-cliain ; in a word, 
just such a young man as a girl with any good 
sense would be glad to have for a husband. 

He had property too ; he was the eldest of five 
children. I reckoned that his own share might 
be fifteen to twenty thousand francs after the 
death of his parents. 

Well, this young man demanded Gredel in 
marriage, and at once Jacob, my wife, and my- 
self were agreed to accept him. 

Only my wife thought that we ought to consult 
Cousin George and Marie Anne. Gredel was 
just there when I went in with Catherine ; but 
behold ! on the first mention of the thing she 
began to melt into tears, and to say she would 
rather die than marry Mathias Ileitz. You may 
imagine how angry we were. My wife was 
going to slap her face or box her ears ; but my 
cousin became angry now, and told us that we 
ought never to oblige a girl to marry against her 
will, because this was the way to make miserable 
households. Then he led us out into the passage, 
telling us that he took the responsibility of this 
affair : that he wished to obtain information, and 
that we were to tell the young man that we re- 
quired a month for reflection. 

We could not refuse him that. Gredel would 
no longer come home ; my cousin’s wife begged 
us not to plague her, and we had to give way to 
them ; but it was one of the greatest troubles of 


STOnr OF THE PLiJBISCITE. 


45 


my life. And I thought: “ITow you cannot 
give your daughter to whoever yon like ; is not 
this really abominable ? ” 

I felt angry with myself for having listened to 
my cousin : but, nevertheless, Gredel stayed with 
them a whole week, in consequence of which we 
were obliged to hire a charwoman ; and Jacob 
exclaimed that Gredel could not have offered 
him a worse insult than to refuse his best com- 
rade, a rich fellow, who boldly paid down his 
money for ten, fifteen, and twenty bottles at the 
club without winking. 

However, he never mentioned it to Cousin 
George, for whom he felt the greatest respect on 
account of his expectations from him, and whose 
strong language dismayed him. 

At last my wife found that Gredel was staying 
too long away from home ; the people of the vil- 
lage would talk about it ; so one evening I went 
to see George, to ask him what he had learned 
about Heitz’s son. 

It was after supper. Gredel, seeing me come 
in, slipped out into the kitchen, and my cousin 
said to me frankly : “ Listen, Christian : here is 
the matter in two words — Gredel loves another.” 

Whom ? ” 

“ Jean Baptiste Werner.” 

‘‘ Father Ileitz’s clerk ? the son of the wood- 
ward Werner, who has never had anything but 
potatoes to eat ? Is she in love with him ? Let 


46 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


the wretch come — let him come and ask her! 
ril kick him down the stairs! And Gredel to 
grieve me so ? Oh 1 I should never have believed 
it of her ! ” 

I could have cried. 

Come, Christian,” said my cousin, “ you must 
be reasonable.” 

Reasonable ! she deserves to have her neck 
wrung ! ” 

I was in a fury ; I wanted to lay hold on her. 
Happily, she had gone into the garden, and George 
held me back. He obliged me to sit down again, 
and said : ‘‘ Wliat is Mathias Heitz ? a fat fool 
w^ho knows nothing but how to play at cards and 
drink. He was put to college at Phalsbourg, at 
M. Yerrot’s, like all the other respectable young 
men in the district ; but he now drives about in a 
char-a-banc in a flowered waistcoat, with jingling 
seals : he could not possibly earn a couple of 
pence — and the old man would like to be rid of 
him by marrying him. I have obtained informa- 
tion about him. He may come in for from fif- 
teen to twenty thousand francs some day ; but 
what are fifteen thousand francs for an ass ? He 
will eat them, he will drink them — perhaps he 
lias already swallowed half — and if there is a 
family, what are fifteen or even twenty thousand 
francs between five or six children ? Formerly, 
when girls used to have an outfit for a marriage 
portion, and the eldest son succeeded his father^ 


8T0RT OF THE PLtJBISGITE. 


47 


things went on pretty well. It did not want 
much talent to carry on a well-established busi- 
ness, or to follow up a trade from father to son. 
But at the present day, mother- wit and good sense 
Btand in the foremost rank. Grandfather Heitz 
was an industrious man ; he made money ; but 
Father Mathias has never added a sou to his prop- 
erty, and the son has not a grain of good sense.” 

“ But the other fellow — why he has nothing at 
all.” 

“ The other, Jean Baptiste Werner, is a good 
man, who has done his duty by Father Heitz ; he 
knows everything, manages everything, takes in 
orders, makes all the arrangements for the carri- 
age of stone by carts or by railway. Heitz puts 
the money into his pocket, and Werner has all the 
work, for want of a little capital to set himself up 
in business. He has seen foreign service. I have 
seen his certificates of character in Africa, in 
Mexico : they are excellent. If I were in your 
place, I would give Gredel to him.” 

Never ! ” cried I, thumping upon the table ; 
“ I had rather drowm her.” 

Half the wine-glasses were shattered on the 
floor ; but my cousin was not angry. 

“ Well, Christian,” said he, you are wrong. 
Think it over. Gredel will remain here. I will 
answer for her. You must not take her away at 
present. You would be very likely to ill-tnat 
her, and then you would repent of it.” 


48 


STORy OF THE PLiJBISGITE. 


“ Let ]ier stay as long as you like ! ” said I, tak 
ing up my hat ; let her never darken my doors 
again.” And I rushed out. 

Never in my life had I been so angry and so 
grieved. At home I did not even dare to say 
what I had learned ; but Jacob suspected it. and 
one day, as Werner was stopping in front of the 
mill, he shook his pitchfoi*k at him, shouting : 

Come on ! ” But Werner pretended not to 
hear him, and went on his way. 

I was at last, however, obliged to tell my wife 
the whole matter. At first she was near fainting ; 
but she soon recovered, and said to me : Well, 
if Gredel won’t have young Mathias, we shall 
keep our hundred louis, and we shall have no 
need to hire a new servant. I should prefer that, 
for one cannot trust strange servants in a house.” 

“Yes; but how can we declare to Mathias 
Heitz that Gredel refuses his son ? ” 

“ Oh, don’t trouble yourself, Christian,” said 
she ; “ leave me alone, and don’t let us quarrel 
with Cousin George : that’s the principal thing. 
I will say that Gredel is too young to be married ; 
that is the proper thing to say, and nobody can 
answer that.” 

Catherine quieted me in this way. But this 
business was still racking my brain, when extra- 
ordinary things came to pass, which we were far 
from expecting, and which were to turn our hail 
gray, and that of many others with us. 


STOHr OF THE HL^BISOITE, 


40 


CHAPTER III. 

One morning tlie secretary of tlie sons-prefet 
wrote to me to come to Sarrebonrg. From time 
to time we used to receive orders, as magistrates, 
to go and give an account at the sous-prefecture 
of what was going on in our district. 

I said to myself, immediately on receiving this 
letter from Secretary Gerard, that it was some- 
thing about our Agricultural Society, wliicli had 
not yet delivered the prizes gained by the ducks 
and the geese a few weeks before. 

It was true that the Paris newspapers had for 
tliree days past been discussing a Prince of Hohen- 
zollern, who had just been named King of Spain ; 
but what could that signify to us at Rothalp, 
Illingen, Droulingen, and Henridorf, whether the 
King of Spain was called Hohenzollern or by any 
other name ? 

In my opinion, it; could not be about that affair 
that Monsieur le Sous-prefet wanted to talk to us, 
but about the old or a new Agricultural Society, 
or sDmething at least which concerned us in parti- 
cular. The idea of the parish road and the ] iclla 
3 


50 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


came also into my mind ; perhaps that was the 
object we were sent for. 

At last I took up my staff and started for Sarre- 
hoiirg. 

Arriving there, I found the whole length of the 
principal street crowded with mayors, police-in- 
spectors, and j uges-de-paix."^ Mother Adler’s inn 
and all the little public-houses were so full that 
they could not have held another customer. 

Then I said to myself, no doubt something quite 
new is in the wind : as, for instance ; a fete like 
that when her Majesty the Empress and the Prince 
Imperial, three years before, passed through 
Kancy to celebrate the union of Lorraine with 
France. Thereupon I went to the sous-prefec- 
ture, where I found already several ma^ws of the 
neighborhood talking at the door. They were 
discussing the price of corn, the high price of 
cattle food ; they were called in one after an- 
other. 

In half an hour my turn came ; Monsieur 
Christian Weber’s name was called, and I entered 
with my hat in my hand. 

Monsieur le Sous prefet with his secretary 
Gerard, with his pen stuck behind his ear, were 
seated there : the secretary began to mend hia 
pen ; and Monsieur le Sous-prefet asked me what 
was going on in my part of the country ? 


Magistrates. 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


51 


“ In our country, Monsieur le Sous-prefet 1 
why, nothing at all. There is a great drought ; 
no rain has fallen for six weeks ; the potatoes are 
very small, and . . 

“ I don’t mean that, Monsieur le Maire : wha^ 
do they think of the Prince Hohenzollern and the 
Crown of Spain ? ” 

On hearing this I scratched my head, saying to 
myself, “ What will you answer to that now ? 
What must you say ? ” 

Then Monsieur le Sous-prefet asked : “ What 
is the spirit of your population ? ” 

The spirit of our population? How could I 
get out of that ? 

“ You see. Monsieur le Sous-prefet, in our vil- 
lages the people are no scholars ; they don’t read 
the papers.” 

“ But tell me, what do they think of the war ? ” 

“ What war ? ” 

If, now, we should have war with Germany, 
would those people be satisfied ? ” 

Then I began to catch a glimpse of his mean- 
ing, and I said: “You know, Monsieur le Sous- 
prefet, that we have voted in the Plebiscite to 
have peace, because everybody likes trade and 
business and quietness at home ; we only want to 
have work and . . 

“ Of course, of course, that is plain enough ; 
we all want peace : His Majesty the Emperor, and 
Her Majesty the Empress, and everybody love 


52 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


peace! But if we are attacked : if Count Bis- 
marck and the King of Prussia attack us P’ 

Then, Monsieur le Sous-prefet, we shall be 
obliged to defend ourselves in the best way we 
can ; by all sorts of means, with pitchforks, with 
sticks . . 

Put that down. Monsieur Gerard, write down 
those words. You are right. Monsieur le Maire : 
I felt sure of you beforehand,” said Monsieur le 
Sous-prefet, shaking hands with me : “ You are a 
wortliy man.” 

Tears came into my eyes. He came with me 
j to the door, saying : “ The determination of your 
’ people is admirable ; tell them so ; tell them that 
we wish for peace ; that our only thought is for 
peace ; that his Majesty and their Excellencies 
the Ministers want nothing but peace ; but that 
France cannot endure the insults of an ambitious 
power. Communicate your own ardor to the vil- 
lage of Eothalp. Good, very good. Au revoir, 
Monsieur le Maire, farewell.” 

Then I went out, much astonished; another 
mayor took my place, and I thought, ‘‘ What ! 
does that Bismarck mean to attack us ! Oli, the 
•villain ! ” 

But as yet I could tell neither why nor how. 

I repaired to Mother Adler’s, where 1 ordered 
bread and cheese and a bottle of white wine, ac- 
cording to custom, before returning home ; and 
there I heard all those gentlemen, the Govern 






IS THAT YOU, COUSIN i ' SAID HE, PULLING UP 














8T0RT OF THE PLiJBISGITE. 


53 


ment officials, the controllers, the tax-collectors, 
the judges, the receivers, etc., asserabled in tlie 
public room, telling one another that the Prus- 
sians were going to invade us ; that they had 
already taken half of Germany, and tliat they 
were wanting now to lay the Spaniards upon our 
back in order to take the rest: just as they had 
put Italy upon the back of the Austrians, before 
Sadowa. 

All the mayors present were of the same opin- 
ion; they all answered that they would defend 
themselves, if we were attacked ; for the Lorrain- 
ers and the Alsacians have never been behind- 
hand in defending themselves: all the world 
knows that. 

1 went on listening ; at last, having paid my 
bill, I started to return home. 

I went out of Sarrebourg, and had walked for 
half an hour in the dust, reflecting upon what had 
just taken place, when I heard a conveyance 
coming at a rapid rate behind me. I turned 
round. It was Cousin George upon his char-a- 
banc, at which I was much pleased. 

“ Is that you, cousin ? ” said he, pulling up. 

Yes ; I am just come from Sarrebourg, and I 
am not sorry to meet with you, for it is terribly 
warm.” 

“ Well, up with yon,” said he. You 1 avo had 
a great gathering to-day ; I saw all the public- 
houses full.” 


54 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


I was up, I took my seat, and tlie conveyance 
went off a, gain at a trot. 

“Yes,” said I; “it is a strange business ; you 
would never guess wliy we have been sent for to 
the sous-prefecture.” 

“What for?” 

Then I told him all about it ; being much ex- 
cited against the villain Bismarck, who wanted to 
invade us, and had just invented this Hohenzollern 
pretext to drive us to extremities. 

George listened. At last he said : “ My poor 
Christian ! the Sous-prefet was quite right in call- 
ing you a worthy fellow; and all those other 
mayors that I saw down there, with their red 
noses, are worthy men; but do you know my 
opinion upon all those matters ? ” 

“ What do you think, George ? ” 

“Well, my belief is, that they are leading you 
like a string of asses by the bridle. That Sous- 
prefet will present his report to the Prefet, the 
Prefet to the Minister of the Interior, Monsieur 
Chevandier de Yaldrome, — the organizer of the 
Plebiscite — he who told you to vote ‘ Yes ’ to have 
peace — and that Minister will present his report 
to the Emperor. They all know that the Em- 
peror desires war, because he needs it for his 
dynasty.” 

“ What ! he wants war ? ” 

“'No doubt he does. In spite of all, forty-five 
thousand soldiers have voted against the Plebis- 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


55 


cite. The army is turiiiug round against the dy- 
nasty. There is no more promotion : medals, 
crosses, promotions were distributed in profusion 
at first, now all that has stopped ; the inferior 
officers have no more hope of passing into the 
higher ranks, because the army is filled with no- 
bles, with Jesuits from the schools of the Sacred 
College : in the Court calendars nothing is seen 
but The soldiers, who spring from the peo- 

ple, begin to discern that they are being gradu- 
ally extinguished : they are not in a pleasant 
temper. But war may put everything straight 
again : a few battles are wanted to throw light 
upon the malcontents ; there must be a victory to 
crush the Bepublicans, for the Bepublicans are 
gaining confidence : they are lifting up their 
heads. After a victory, a few thousand of them 
can be sent to Lambessa and to Cayenne, just as 
after the Second of December. At the same 
time, the Jesuits will be placed at the head of the 
schools, as they were under Charles X., the Pope 
will bo restored, Italy and Germany will be dis- 
membered, and the dynasty will be placed on a 
strong foundation for twenty years. Every twenty 
years they will begin again, and the dynasty will 
strike deep root. But war there must be.” 

“ But what do you mean ? It is Bismarck who 
is beginning it,” said I : “it is he who is picking 
a German quarrel.” 

“Bismarck,” replied my cousin, “is well ac 


66 


STORT OF TEE PLiJBISCITE. 


qiiainted with everything that is going on, and sc 
are the very lowest workmen in Paris ; but you, 
you know nothing at all. Your only talk is 
about potatoes and cabbages: your thoughts 
never go beyond this. You are kept in ignorance. 
You are, as it were, the dung of the Empire — 
the manure to fatten the dynasty. Bismarck is 
aware that our honest man wants war, to temper 
his army afresh, and shut the mouths of those 
whose talk is of economy, liberty, honor, and 
justice ; he knows that never will Prussia be so 
strong again as she is now — she already covers 
three-fourths of Germany ; all the Germans will 
march at her side to fight against France : they 
can put more than a million of men in the field 
in fifteen days, and they will be three or four 
against one ; with such odds there is no need of 
genius, the war will go forward of itself — they 
are sure of crushing the enemy.” 

“ But the Emperor must know that as well as 
you, George,” said I ; “ therefore he will be for 
peace.” 

“No, he is relying upon his mitrailleuses: and 
then he wants to strengthen his dynasty — what 
does the rest matter to him? To establish his 
dynasty he took an oath before God and man to 
the Republic, arxd then he trampled upon his 
oath and the Republic; he brought destruction 
upon thousands of good men, who were defend- 
ing the laws against him ; he has enriched thou 


STORY OF THE PL^IDISCITE. 


57 


sands of thieves who uphold him; he has cor- 
rupted our youth by the evil example of the pros- 
perity of brigands, and the misfortunes of the 
well-disposed ; he has brought low everything 
that was worthy of respect, he has exalted every- 
thing which excites disgust and contempt. All 
the men who have approached this pestilence 
have been contaminated, to the very marrow of 
their bones. You, Christian, evidently cannot 
comprehend these abominable things; but the 
worst rogues in this country, the wildest vaga- 
bonds among your peasants, could never form an 
opinion of the villany of this honest man: they 
are saints compared with him ; at the very sight 
of him the heart of every true Frenchman rises 
up against him : for the sake of his dynasty he 
would sell and sacrifice us all to the last man.” 

George, in uttering these words, was trembling 
with excitement : I saw that he was convinced to 
the bottom of his heart of what he said. Fortu- 
nately we were alone on the road, far from any 
village ; no one could hear us. 

But that Ilohenzollern,” I said, after a few 
minutes’ silence, “ that Leopold Ilohenzollern — is 
not he the cause of all that is going on % ” 

“ No,” said George ; “ if misfortunes come 
upon us, the honest man alone will be the cause 
of it. If you did but read a newspaper, you 
would see that the Spaniards wanted for their 
king, Montpensier, a son of Louis Philippe; that 
3 * 


58 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


could only have turned out to our good : Mont 
pensier would naturally have become the ally ol 
France. But that was against the interests of 
the Napoleon dynasty ; so the honest man threat- 
ened Spain ; then the Spaniards nominated this 
Prussian prince in the place of Montpensier ; a 
prince who could not stand alone, but whom a 
million of Germans would support if necessaiT. 
They fixed upon him to annoy our gentleman ; of 
course they had no need to ask for his advice. 
Did France consult any one ? did she trouble her- 
self about England, Spain, or Germany, when she 
proclaimed the Pepublic, or when she proclaimed 
Louis Bonaparte Emperor % Has he then a right 
to thrust his nose into their afPairs? No ; it is 
unpleasant for us ; but the Spaniards were right ; 
there was no need for them to put themselves out 
to please our worthy man and his fine family. 
And now — happen what may — I look no longer 
for peace ; the Germans are withdrawing from 
our country in all directions — they are joining 
their regiments; the order has been given, and 
they obey ; it is a bad sign. In all the villages 
that I have been passing through, and upon every 
road, I have seen these fine fellows, their bundles 
over their shoulders — they are off home ! ” 

Tlius spoke Cousin George to me. I thought 
this was a little too bad ; but, on arriving home, 
the first thing my wife said to me was, “ Do you 
know that Frantz is going? ’’ 


STORY OF THE PLtlBISOITE. 


59 


“ Our young man ? ” 

“ Yes, he wants his wages.” 

“ Ah, indeed. Let him come here at the back, 
and we will have a talk.” 

I was much surprised, and I made bin' come 
into my room at the bottom of the mill, where I 
keep my papers and my books. His cow-skin 
pack was already fastened upon his shoulder. 

“ Are you going away, Frantz ? Have you 
anything to complain of ? ” 

“ Ho, nothing at all. Monsieur Weber. But I 
am obliged to go ; for I have received orders to 
join my regiment.” 

“ Are you a soldier, then ? ” 

Yes, in the Landwehr. We are all soldiers in 
Germany.” 

“ But if you liked to stay here, who would 
come and fetch you ? ” 

“ That is an impossibility, M. Weber. I should 
be declared a deserter. I could never return 
home again. They would take away all my 
property, present and to come ; my brothers and 
sisters would come in for it.” 

“ Ah, that is a different thing ! Now I under- 
stand. There — there’s your certificate of charac- 
ter.” 

I had written a good certificate for him, for he 
was a good workman. I paid him what I owed 
him to the last farthing, and wished him a pros* 
perous iourney. 


60 


STORY OF THE PlAbISGITE. 


Cousin George was right ; those Germans were 
all moving homewards. You would never have 
thought there were so many in the country ; some 
had passed themselves off for Swiss, some for 
Luxemburgers ; others had quite settled down, 
and no one would ever have suspected that they 
owed two or three more years' service to their 
country. This gave rise to disputes. Those 
whose situations they had taken, and who bore 
ill-will against them, fell upon them ; the gen- 
da/rmerie beat up the mountains; things were 
taking an ugly turn. 

It was in vain that I affirmed at the mayoralty- 
house that the Emperor breathed only peace ; for 
the Gazettes of the prefecture talked of notliing 
but the insults we had had to endure, the ambi- 
tion of Prussia, revenge for Sadowa, the Catholic 
nations who were going to declare en masse in 
our favor, and all the powers wliich affirmed the 
justice of our cause : the entliusiasm for w^ar 
grew higher and higher day by day ; especially 
that of the pedlers, the tinkers, the small dealers, 
and all those good fellows who come out of the 
prisons, and who are continually seeking for work 
without finding any ; though they do find walls 
to get over, doors to break in, cupboards to plun- 
der. All these excellent people declared that it 
was for the honor of France to make war upon 
Germany. 

And then the Paris newspapers in the pay of 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


61 


the Government, as we have more re(;entlj 
learned, continued arriving and were circulated 
gratis, saying that our ambassador Benedetti had 
gone to see Frederick William at the waters of 
Ems, to entreat him not to precipitate us into the 
horrors of war ; that the King had answered that 
all that was nothing to him, for his Cousin Leo- 
pold of Hohenzollern had only consulted him out 
of respect, as head of the family ; that he was 
too good a relation to advise him not to accept so 
good a windfall, which was coming down to him 
out of the clouds. 

Then, indeed, did the indignation of the 
Gazettes burst upon the Germans : they must, by 
all means, be brought to their senses. Kow, 
fancy the position of a mayor, who only two 
months before had made all his village vote in 
the Plebiscite, promising them peace, and who 
saw clearly at last how they had only made use 
of him as a tool to dupe his people ! I dared no 
longer look my cousin in the face, for he had 
warned me of the thing ; and now I knew what 
to think of the honorable members of the Gov- 
ernment. 

Affairs were going on so badly that war seemed 
imminent, when one fine morning we learned 
that Hohenzollern had waived his right to be 
King of Spain. Ah ! now we were out of the 
mess : now we could breathe more freely. That 
day my cousin himself was smiling ; he came to 


62 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

the mill and said to me : “ The Emperor and hia 
Ministers, his prefets and sous-prefets, have not 
such long noses after all ! How well things were 
going on too ! And now they will be obliged to 
wait for another opportunity to begin. How they 
must feel sold ! ” 

We both laughed with delight. 

More than twenty-five of the principal inhabi- 
tants came that day to shake hands with me at 
the mayoralty-house. It was concluded that his 
excellency, Monsieur Emile Ollivier, would never 
be able to tinker this war again, and that peace 
would be preserved in spite of him : in spite of 
the Emperor, in spite of Marshal Leboeuf, who 
had declared to the Senate tliat we were ready — 
■five times ready., and that during the whole cam- 
paign we should never he short of so much as a 
gaiter button. 

Hohenzolleni was praised up to the skies for 
having shown such good sense ; and as the re- 
serves had been called out, many young men were 
glad to be able to remain in the bosom of their 
families. 

In a word, it was concluded that the whole 
affair was at an end ; when our good man and his 
honorable Minister informed us that we had beffiin 
to rejoice to3 soon. All at once, the report ran 
tliat Frederick William had shown our ambassa- 
dor the door, saying something so terribly strong 
against tlie honor of his Majesty Napole m III., 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


63 


that nobody dared repeat it. It appeared that 
his Majesty the Emperor, seeing that the King of 
Prussia had withdrawn his authorization from the 
Prince of Hohenzollern to accept the crown of 
Spain, had not been satisfied with that ; and that 
he had given orders to his ambassador to demand, 
furthermore, his renunciation of any crown what- 
ever that the Spaniards might offer him in all 
time to come — for himself or his family ; and 
that this King, who does not enjoy at all times 
the best of tempers, had said something very 
strong touching our honest man. 

That day I was at the mayoralty-house about 
eleven o’clock. I had just celebrated the mar- 
riage of Andre Fix witli Kaan’s daughter, and 
the wedding-party had started for church, when 
the postman Michel comes in and throws down 
the little Moniteur upon the table. Then I sat 
down to read about the great battle in the Legis- 
lative Chambers, fought by Thiers, Gambetta, 
Jules Favre, Glais-Bizoin and others, against the 
Ministers, in defence of peace. 

It was magnificent. But this had not prevented 
the majority, appointed to do everything, from 
declaring war against the Germans, on account of 
what tlie King of Prussia had said. 

What could he then have said ? His excellency 
Emile Ollivier has never dared to repeat it ! My 
Cousin George declared that he had said some- 
thing that was right, and naturally very unpleas- 


64 


STORY OF THE PLMHSCITE. 


ant: but it is known now, by the reports of oui 
ambassador, that the King of Prussia had said 
nothing at all^ and that the indignation of IVL 
Ollivier was nothing but a disgraceful sham to 
deceive the Chambers, and make them vote foi' 
war. 

Well, this was the commencement of our 
calamities ; and, for my part, I find that this did 
not present a cheerful prospect. Ko ! After 
having endured such miseries, it is not pleasant 
to remember that we owe them. all to M. Emile 
Ollivier, to Monsieur Leboeuf, to Monsieur Bona- 
parte, and to other men of that stamp, who are 
living at this moment comfortably in their 
country-houses in Italy, in Switzerland, in 
England ; whilst so many unhappy creatures have 
had their lives sacrificed, or have been utterly 
ruined ; have lost father, children, and friends : 
but we Alsacians and Lorrainers have lost more 
than all — our own mother-country. 


STOUT OF THE PLtJBISGITE. 


65 


CHAPTEK lY. 

The day following this declaration, Cousin 
George, who could never look upon anything 
cheerfully, started for Belfort. lie had ordered 
some wine at Dijon, and he wished to stop it 
from coming. It was the 22d July. George 
only returned five days later, on the 27th, having 
had the greatest difiiculty in getting there in 
time. 

During these five days I had a hard time. 
Orders were coming every hour to hurry on the 
reserves and the Gardes Mobiles, and to cancel 
renewable furloughs ; the gendarmerie had no 
rest. The Government gazette was telling us of 
the enthusiasm of the nation for the war. It 
was pitiable ; can you imagine young men sitting 
quietly at home, thinking : ‘‘ In five or six months 
I shall be exempt from service, I may marry, 
settle, earn money,’’ all at once, without either 
rhyme or reason, becoming enthusiastic to go and 
knock over men they know nothing of, and to risk 
their own bones against them. Is there a shadow 
of jrood sense in such notions ? 

o 


66 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


And the Germans ! Will anyone persuade us 
that they were coming for their own pleasure — ■ 
all these thousands of workmen, ti-adesmen, man- 
ufacturers, good citizens, who were living in 
peace in their towns and their villages? Will 
any one maintain that they cajne and drew up in 
lines facing our guns for their private satisfaction, 
with an officer behind them, pistol in hand, to 
shoot them in the back if they gave ? Do 
you suppose they found any amusement in that ? 
Come now, was not his excellency Monsieur 
Ollivier the only man who went into war, as he 
himself said, “ with a light heart ” ? He was safe 
to come back, he was : he had not much to fear ; 
he is quite well; he made a fortune in a very 
short time ! But the lads of our neighborhood, 
Mathias Heitz, Jean Baptiste Werner, my son 
Jacob, and hundreds of others, were in no such 
hurry : they would much rather have stayed in 
their villages. 

Later on it was another matter, when yon were 
fighting for yonr country ; then, of course, many 
went off as a matter of duty, without being sum- 
moned, whilst Monsieur Ollivier and his friends 
were hiding, God knows where ! But at that 
particular moment when all our misfortunes 
might have been averted, it is a falsehood to say 
that we went enthusiastically to have ourselves 
cut to pieces for a pack of intriguers and stage- 
players, whom we were just beginning to fold out. 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


67 


"When we saw our son Jacob, in his blouse, liis 
bundle under his arm, come into the mill, saying, 
“ Now, father, I am going ; you must not forget 
to pull up the dam in lialf an hour, for the water 
will be up : ” when he said this to me, I tell you 
my heart trembled ; the cries of his mother iu the 
room behind made my hair stand on end. I could 
have wished to say a few words, to cheer up the 
lad, but my tongue refused to move ; and if I 
had held his Excellency, M. Ollivier, or his re- 
spected master, by the throat in a corner, they 
would liave made a queer figure : I should have 
strangled them in a moment! At last Jacob 
went. 

All tlie young men of Sarrebourg, of Chateau 
Sal ins, and our neighborhood, fifteen or sixteen 
liundred in number, were at Phalsbourg to relieve 
the 84tli, who at any moment might expect to be 
called away, and wlio.were complaining of their 
colonel for not claiming the foremost rank for 
his reociment. The officers were afraid of arriv- 
ing too late ; they wanted promotion, crosses, 
medals : fighting was their trade. 

What I have said about enthusiasm is true ; it 
is equally true of the Germans and the French ; 
they had no desire to exterminate one another. 
Bismarck and otir honest man alone are respon- 
sible: at their door lies all the blood that has 
been shed. 

Cousin George returned from Belfort on the 


68 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


27tli, in the evening. I fancy I still see him en 
tering our room at nightfall ; Gredel had returned 
to us the day before, and we were at supper, with 
the tin lamp upon the table ; from my place, on 
the right, near the window, I was able to watch 
the mill-dam. George arrived. 

“ Ah ! cousin, here you are back again ! Did 
you get on all right ? ” 

Yes, I have nothing to complain of,” said he, 
taking a chair. I arrived just in time to coun- 
termand my order ; but it was only by good luck. 
What confusion all the way from Belfort to 
i Strasbourg ! the troops, the recruits, the guns, the 
horses, the munitions of war, the barrels of bis- 
cuits, all are arriving at the railway in heaps. 
You would not know the country. Orders are 
asked for everywhere. The telegrapli-wires are 
no longer for private use. The commissaries 
don’t know where to find their stores, colonels are 
looking for their regiments, generals for their 
brigades and divisions. They are seeking for 
salt, sugar, coffee, bacon, meat, saddles and bri- 
dles — and they are getting charts of the Baltic 
for a campaign in the Yosges ! Oh ! ” cried my 
cousin, uplifting his hands, is it possible ? Have 
we come to that — we ! we! Now it will be seen 
how expensive a thing is a government of thieves ! 
I warn you, Christian, it will be a failure ! Per 
haps tliere will not even be found rifles in the 


STORT OF TUB PL^JBISCITE. 


69 


arsenals, after the hundreds of millions voted to 
get rifles. You will see ; 3 ^ou will see ! ” 

He had begun to stride to and fro excitedly , 
and we, sitting on our chairs, were looking at 
him open-mouthed, staring first right and then 
left. His anger rose higher and higher, and lie 
said, Such is the genius of our honest man, he 
conducts everything: he is our Commander-in- 
chief ! A retired artillery captain, with whom I 
travelled from Schlestadt to Strasbourg, told me 
that in consequence of the bad organization of 
our forces, we should be unable to place more 
than two hundred and fift}’’ thousand men in line 
along our frontier from Luxembourg to Switzer 
land ; and that the Germans, with their superior 
and long prepared organization, could oppose to 
us, in eight days, a force of five to six hundred 
thousand men ; so that they will be more than 
two to one at the outset, and they will crush ns 
in spite of the valor of our soldiers. This old 
officer, full of good sense, and who has travelled 
in Germany, told me, besides that the artillery of 
the Prussians carries farther and is worked more 
rapidl}^ than ours ; which would enable the Ger- 
mans to dismount our batteries and our miti ail- 
leu, s»3s 'without getting any hai*m themselves. It 
seems that our great man never thought of that.” 

Then George began to laugh, and, as we said 
nothing, he went on ; “ And the enemy — the 
Prussians, Bavarians, Badeners, Wurtembergers, 


70 


STORY OF THE PLilBISGITE. 


the Courrier du declares that they are 

coining by regiments and divisions from Frank- 
fort and Municli toRastadt, with guns, mimitions, 
and provisions in abundance ; that all the countiy 
swarms with them, from Karlsruhe to Baden ; 
that they have blown up the bridge of Kehl, to 
prevent us from outflanking them ; that we have 
not troops enough at Wisseinbourg. But what is 
the use of complaining? Our commander-in- 
chief knows better than the Courrier du Bas- 
Rhin ; he is an iron-clad fellow, who takes no 
advice : a man must have some courage to offer 
him advice ! ” 

And all at once, stopping short, “Christian,” 
he said, “ I have come to give you a little ad- 
vice.” 

“What?” 

“ Hide all the money you have got ; for, from 
what I have seen down there, in a few days the 
enemy will be in Alsace.” 

Imagine my astonishment at hearing these 
words. George was not the man to joke about 
serious matters, nor was he a timid man : on the 
contrary, you would have to go far to find a 
braver man. Therefore, fancy my wife’s and 
Gredel’s alarm. 

“ AYhat, George,” said I, “ do you think that 
possible ? ” 

“ Listen to me,” said he. “ When on the one 
aide you see nothing but empty beings, with- 


STORY OF TUE RLtBISGlTE. 71 

out education, without judgment, prudence, or 
method ; and on the other, men who for fifty 
years have been preparing a mortal blow — any- 
thing is possible. Yes, I believe it ; in a fort- 
night the Germans will be in Alsace. Onr 
mountains will check them ; the fortresses of 
Bitche, of Petite Pierre, of Phalsbourg and Lich- 
tenberg ; the abattis, and tlie intrenchments 
which will be formed in the passes ; the ambus- 
cades of every kind which will be set, the bridges 
and the railway tunnels that they will blow up — 
all this will prevent them from going farther for 
three or four months until winter; but, in the 
meantime, they will send this way reconnoitring 
parties — Uhlans, hussars, brigands of every kind 
— ^wlio will snap up everything, pillage every- 
where — wheat, flom-, hay, straw, bacon, cattle, 
and principally money. War will be made upon 
our backs. We Alsacians and Lorrainers, we 
shall have to pay the bill. I know all about it. 
I have been all over the country-side; believe 
me. Hide everything ; that is what I mean to 
do ; and, if anything happens, at least it will not 
be our fault. I would not go to bed without giv- 
ing you this warning ; so good-night, Christian ; 
good-night, everybody ! ” 

He left us, and we sat a few moments gazing 
stupidly at each other. My wife and Grcdel 
wanted to hide everything that very night. G-re- 
del, ev(T since she had got Jean Baptiste Weruei 


72 


STORY OF THE RLtlBlSGITE. 


into her head, was thinking of nothing but he! 
marriage-portion. She knew that we had about 
a hundred louis in cent-sous pieces in a basket at 
the bottom of the cupboard; she said to her- 
self, “ That’s my marriage-portion ! ” And tliis 
troubled her more than anything : she even grew 
bolder, and wanted to keep the keys herself. 
But her mother is not a woman to be led : 
every minute she cried : “ Take care, Gredel ! 
mind what you are about ! ” 

She looked daggers at her ; and I was contin- 
ually obliged to come to preserve peace between 
them ; for Catherine is not gifted with patience. 
And so all our troubles came together. 

But, in spite of what George had just been 
saying, I was not afraid. The Germans were 
less than sixteen leagues from us, it is true, but 
they would have first to cross the Bhine; then 
we knew that at Niederbronn the people were 
complaining of the troops cantoned in the villa- 
ges : this was a proof that there was no lack of 
soldiers; and then MacMahon was at Strasbourg ; 
the Turcos, the Zouaves, and the Chasseurs 
d’Afrique were coming up. 

So I said to m} wife that were was no hurry 
yet ; that Cousin George had long detested the 
Emperor; but that all that did not mean much, 
and it was better to see things for one’s self ; that 
I should go to Saverne market, and if things 
looked bad, then I would sell all onr corn and 


8T0MY OF THE PL^IBISGITB. 7 ^ 

flour, wliich would come to a hundred louis, and 
which we would bury directly with the rest. 

My wife took courage ; and if I liad not had 
a great deal to grind for the bakers in our vil- 
lage, I should have gone next day to Saverne and 
should have seen what was going on. Unfortu- 
nately, ever since Frantz and Jacob had left, the 
mill was on my hands, and I scarcely had time to 
turn round. 

Jacob was a great trouble to me besides, ask- 
ing for money by the postman Michel. This 
man told me that the Mobiles had not yet been 
called out, and that tliej^ were lounging from one 
public-house to another in gangs to kill time ; 
that they had I’eceived no rifles ; that they were 
not quartered in the barracks ; and that they did 
not get a farthing for their food. 

This disorder disgusted me; and I reflected 
that an Emperor who sends for all the young men 
in harvest-time, ought at least to feed them, and 
not leave them to be an expense to their parents. 
For all that I sent money to Jacob : I could not 
allow him to suffer hunger. But it was a trouble 
CO my mind to keep him down there with my 
money, sauntering about with his hands in his 
pockets, whilst I, at my age, was obliged to carry 
sacks up into the loft, to fetch them down again, 
to load the carts alone, and, besides, to watch the 
mill ; for r.o one could be met with now, and the 
old day-laborer, Donadieu, quite a crij^plo, wa>< 


74 


STORY OF TBE PLEBISCITE. 


all the help I had. After that, only imagine oui 
anxiety, onr fatigue, and our embarrassment tc 
know what to do. 

The other people in the village were in no bet- 
ter spirits than ourselves. The old men and 
women thought of their sons shut up in the town, 
and the great drought continuing : we could rely 
upon nothing. The smallpox had broken out, 
too. Nothing would sell, nothing could be sent 
by railway : planks, beams, felled timber, build- 
ing-stone, all lay at the saw-pits or the stone- 
quarr}^ The sous-prefet kept on troubling me 
to search and find out three or four scamps who 
had not reported themselves, and the consequence 
of all this was that I did not get to Saverne that 
week. 

Then it was announced that at last the Em- 
peror had just quitted Paris, to place himself at 
the head of his armies ; and five or six days af- 
ter came the news of his great victory at Sarre- 
briick, where the mitrailleuses had mown down 
the Prussians ; where the little Pifnce had picked 
up bullets, “which made old soldiers shed tears 
of emotion.” 

On learning this the people became crazy with 
joy. On all sides were heard cries of “Yive 
rErnpereur ! ” and Monsieur le Cure preached 
the extermination of the heretic Prussians. 
Never had the like been seen. That very day, 
towards evening, just after stopping the mill, all 


STORY OF THE PLi]B18CITE. 


75 


at once I heard in the distance, towards the road, 
cries of ‘‘^Aux armes^ citoyens ! formez vos hor 
taillons I ” 

The dust from the road rose up into tlie clouds. 
It was the 84th departing from Phalsbourg ; they 
were going to Metz, and the people who were 
working in the fields near the road, said, on re- 
turning at night, that the poor soldiers, with theii 
knapsacks on their shoulders, could scarcely march 
for the heat ; that the people were treating them 
with eau-de-vie and wine at all the doors in Met- 
ting, and they said, Good-by ! long life to you ! ” 
that tlie officers, too, were shaking hands with 
everybody, wliilst the people shouted, “ Yivo 
I’Empereur ! ” 

Yes, this victory of Sarrebriick had changed 
the face of things in our villages ; the love of 
war was returning. War is always popular when 
it is successful, and there is a prospect of extend- 
ing our own territory into other peoples’ countries. 

That night about iiiuc o’clock I went to cau- 
tion my cousin to hold his tongue ; for after this 
great victory one word against the dynasty might 
send him a very long way off. He was alone 
with his wife, and said to me, “ Thank you, Chris- 
tian, I have seen the despatch. A few brave fel- 
lows have been killed, and they have shown the 
young Prince to the army. That poor little 
weakly creature has picked up a few bullets on 
the battle-field. He is the heir of his uncle, the 


76 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


terrible captain of Jena and Ansterlitz ! Onl;^ 
one officer has been killed ; it is not much ; but 
if the lieir of the dynasty had had but a scratchy 
tlie gazettes would have shed tears, and it would 
have been our duty to fall fainting.” 

“ Do try to be quiet,” said I, looking to see if 
the windows were all close. Do take care, 
George. Don’t commit yourself to Placiard and 
the gendarmes.” 

“ Yes,” said he, “ the enemies of the dynasty 
are at this moment in worse danger than the lit- 
tle Prince. If victories go on, they will run the 
risk of being plucked pretty bare. I am quite 
aware of that, my cousin ; and so I thank yon 
for having come to warn me.” 

Tliis is all that he said to me, and I returned 
home full of thoughts. 

Next day, Thursday, market-day, I drove my 
first two waggon-loads of flour to Saverne, and sold 
them at a good figure. That day I observed the 
tremendous movement along the railroads, of 
which Cousin George had spoken ; the carriage 
of mitrailleuses, guns, chests of biscuits, and the 
enthusiasm of the people, who were pouring out 
wine for the soldiers. 

It was just like a fair in the principal street, 
from the chateau to the station — a fair of little 
white loaves and sausages ; but the Turcos, with 
their blue jackets, their linen trousers, and thei; 


STOBT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


77 


scarlet caps, took the place of honor : everybodj’ 
wanted to treat them. 

I had never before seen any of these men ; 
their yellow skins, their thick lips, the conspicuous 
whites of their eyes, surprised me ; and I said to 
myself, seeing the long strides they took with 
their thin legs, that the Germans would find 
them unpleasant neighbors. Their officers, too, 
with their swords at their sides, and their pointed 
beards, looked splendid soldiers. At every pub- 
lic-house door, a few Chasseurs d’Afrique had 
tied their small light horses, all alike and beauti- 
fully formed like deer. No one refused them 
anything ; and in all directions, in the inns, the 
talk was of ambulances and collections for the 
wounded. Well, seeing all this, George’s ideas 
seemed to me more and more opposed to sound 
sense, and I felt sure that we were going to crush 
all resistance. 

About two o’clock, having dined at the Boeuf, 
I took the way to the village through Phalsbourg, 
to see Jacob in passing. As I went up the hill, 
something glittered from time to time on the 
slope through the woods, when all at once hun- 
dreds of cuirassiers came out upon the road by 
the Alsace fountain. They were advancing at a 
slow pace by twos, their helmets and their cui- 
rasses threw back fiashes of light upon all the 
trees, and the trampling of their hoofs rolled like 
the rush of a mighty river. 


78 


8T0BT OF THE PL£!BI8G1TE. 


Then I drew ray waggon to one side to see ah 
tlfese raen raarcli past me, sitting iraraovable in 
their saddles as if they were sleeping, the liead 
inclined forward, and the mustache hanging, 
riding strong, square-built horses, the canvas bag 
suspended from the side, and the sabre ringing 
against the boot. Thus they filed past me for 
half an hour. They extended their long lines, 
and stretched on yet to the Schlittenbach. I 
thought there would be no end to them. Yet 
these were only two regiments ; two others were 
encamped upon the glacis of Phalsbourg, where 
I arrived about five in the afternoon. They were 
driving the pickets into the turf with axes ; they 
were lighting fires for cooking ; the horses were 
neighing, and the townspeople — men, women, 
and children — were standing gazing at them. 

I passed on my way, reflecting upon the strength 
of such an army, and pitying, by anticipation, the 
ill-fated Germans whom they were going to en- 
counter. Entering through the gate of Germany, 
I saw the ofiicers looking for lodgings, the Gardes 
Mobiles, in blouses, mounting guard. They liad 
received their rifles that morning ; and the even- 
ing before. Monsieur le Sous-prefet of Sarre- 
bourg had come himself to appoint the ofiicers of 
the National Guard. This is what I had learned 
at ihe Yacheron brewery, where I had stopped, 
leaving my cart outside at the corner of the 
Trois Pigeons.” 


8T0BT OF THE PL^JEISGITE. 


79 


Everybody was talking about our victory at 
Sarrebriick, especially those cuirassiers, who were 
emptying bottles by the hundred, to allay the 
dust of the road. They looked quite pleased, and 
were saying that war on a large scale was begin- 
ning again, and that the heavy cavalry would be 
ill demand. It was quite a pleasure to look on 
them, with their red ears, and to hear them re- 
joicing at the prospect of meeting the enemy 
soon. 

In the midst of all these swarms of people, of 
servants running, citizens coming and going, I 
could have wished to see Jacob ; but where was 
I to look for him ? At last I recognized a lad 
of our village — Nicolas Maisse — the son of the 
wood-turner, our neighbor, who immediately un- 
dertook to find him. He Aveiit out, and in a 
quarter of an hour Jacob appeared. 

The poor fellow embraced me. The tears 
came into my eyes. 

“Well now,” said I, “sit down. Are you 
pretty well ? ” 

“ I had rather be at home,” said he. 

“Yes, but that is impossible now; you must 
have patience.” 

I also invited young Maisse to take a glass 
with us, and both complained bitterly tfiat Ma- 
(hias Heitz, junior, had been made a lieutenant, 
who knew no more of the science of war than 
they did, and who now had ordered of Kuhn, th^ 


80 HTORY OF THE PL£:BI8GITE. 

tailor, an officer’s uniform, gold-laced up to the 
shoulders. Yet Mathias was a friend of Jacob’s. 
But justice is justice. 

This piece of news filled me witli indignation : 
what should Mathias Heitz be made an officer 
for ? He had never learned anything at college ; 
he would never have been able to earn a couple 
of Hards — whilst our Jacob was a good miller’s 
apprentice. 

It was abominable. However, I made no re> 
mark; I only asked if Jean Baptiste ^Yerner, who 
had a few days before joined tlie artilleiy of the 
national guard, was an offi(ier too ? 

Then they replied angrily that Jean Baptiste 
Werner, in spite of his African and Mexican 
campaigns, was only a gunner in the Mariet bat- 
tery, behind the powder magazines. Those who 
knew nothing became officers ; those who knew 
something of war, like Mariet and Werner, were 
privates, or at the most sergeants. All this 
showed mo that Cousin George was right in say- 
ing that we should be driven like .beasts, and that 
our chiefs were void of common sense. 

Looking at all these people coming and going, 
the time passed away. About eight o’clock, as 
we were hungry, and I wished to keep my boy 
with me as long as I could, I sent for a good 
salad and sausages, and we were eating together, 
with full hearts, to be sure, but with a good ap- 
petite. But a few moments after the retreat, just 


STORY OF THE PLtJBISGlTE. 


81 


vvlieii tlie cuirassiers were going to camp out, and 
their officers, heavy and weary, were going to 
rest in their lodgings, a few bugle notes were 
sounded in the ^laee d^armes^ and we heard a 
cry — “ To horse ! to horse ! ” 

Immediately all was excitement. A despatch 
had arrived ; the officers put on their helmets, 
fastened on their swords, and came running out 
through the gate of Germany. Countenances 
changed ; every one asked, What is the mean- 
ing of this ? ” 

At the same time the police inspector came 
up ; he had seen my cart, and cried, “ Strangers 
must leave the place — the gates are going to be 
closed.” 

Then I had only just time to embrace my son, 
to press Nicolas’ hand, and to start at a sharp 
gallop for the gate of France. The drawbridge 
was just on the rise as I passed it ; five minutes 
after I was galloping along the white high-road 
b}’ moonlight, on the way to Metting. Outside 
on the glacis, there was not a sound ; the pickets 
had been drawn, and the two regiments of cav- 
alry were on the road to Savenie. 

I arrived home late : everybody was asleep in 
our village. Nobody suspected what was about 
to happen within a week. 

4 * 


82 


ST0R7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


CHAPTEE y. 

The whole way I thought of nothing but the 
cuirassiers. This order to march immediately 
appeared to me to betoken no good : something 
serious must have occurred ; and as, upon the 
stroke of eleven, 1 was putting my horses up, 
after having put my cart under its shed, the idea 
came into my head that it w^as time now to hide 
my money. I was bringing back from Saverne 
sixteen hundred livres : this heavy leathern purse 
in my pocket was perhaps what reminded me. 
I remembered what Cousin George had said 
about Uhlans and other scamps of that sort, and 
I felt a cold shiver come over me. 

Having, then, gone upstairs very softly, I 
awoke my wife : “ Get up, Catherine.” 

“ What is the matter ? ” 

“ Get up : it is time to hide our money.” 

“ But what is going on ? ” 

“ Hothing. Be quiet— make no noise — Gredel 
is asleep. You will carry the basket : put into 
it your ring and your ear-rings, everything that 
we have got. You hear me! I am going tc 


&TORT OF TUB PLEBIbVITE. 


83 


empty the ditch, and we will bury everything at 
the bottom of it.” 

Then, without answering, she arose. 

I went down to the mill, opened the back-door 
softly, and listened. Nothing was stirring in the 
village; you might have heard a cat moving. 
The mill had stopped, and the water was pretty 
high. I lifted the mill-dam, the water began to 
rush, boiling, down the gulley ; but our neighbors 
were used to this noise even in their sleep, so all 
remained quiet. 

Then I went in again, and I was busy empty 
ing into a corner the little box of oak in which 1 
kept my tools — the pincers, the hammer, the 
screw-drivei*, and the nails, when my wife, in her 
slippers, came downstairs. She had the basket 
under her arm, and was carrying the lighted 
lantern. I blew it out in a moment, thinking : 
Never was a woman such a fool.” 

Downstairs I asked Catherine if everything 
was in the basket. 

“ Yes.” 

“Eight. But I have brought from Saverne 
sixteen hundred francs : the wheat and the flour 
sold well.” 

I had put some bran into the box ; everything 
was carefully laid in the bottom ; and then I put 
on a padlock, and we went ont, after having 
looked to see if all was quiet in the neighborhood. 
The sluice was already almost empty ; there was 


84 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 


only one or two feet of water. I cleared away 
the few stones which kept the rest of the water 
from running out, and went into it with my 
spade and pickaxe as far as just beneath the dam, 
where I began tc make a deep hole ; the water 
was hindering me, but it was flowing still. 

Catherine, above, was keepiug watch ; some- 
times she gave a low ‘‘ Hush ! ” 

Then we listened, but it was nothing — the 
mewing of a cat, the noise of the running water 
— and I went on digging. If any one had had 
the misfortune to surprise us, I should have been 
capable of doing liini a mischief. Happily no 
one came ; and about two o’clock in the morning 
the hole was thi*ee or four feet deep. I let down 
the box, and laid it down level, flrst stamping 
soil down upon it with my heavy shoes, then 
gravel, then large stones, then sand; the mud 
would cover all over of itself : there is always 
plenty of mud in a millstream. 

After this I came out again covered with mud. 
I shut down the dam, and the water began to 
i*ise. About three o’clock, at the dawn of day, 
the sluice was almost full. I could have begun 
grinding again; and nobody would ever have 
imagined that in this great whirling stream, nine 
feet under water and three feet under ground, 
lay a snug little square box of oak, clamped with 
iron, with a good padlock on it, and more chan 


STOUT OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 


85 


iir thousand litres inside. I chuckled in- 
wardly, and said : I^ow let the rascals come ! ” 

And Catherine was well pleased too. But 
about foul’, just as I was going up to bed again, 
comes Gredel, pale with alarm, crying: “Where 
is tlie money ? ” 

She had seen the cupboard open and the bas - 
ket empty. Kever had she had such a fright in 
her life before. Thinking that her marriage- 
portion was gone, her ragged hair stood upon 
end ; she was as pale as a sheet. “ Be quiet,” 
I said, “ the money is in a safe place.” 

“Where?” 

“ It is hidden.” 

“Where?” 

She looked as if she was going to seize me by 
the collar, but her mother said to her : “ That is 
no business of yours.” 

Then she became furious, and said, that if we 
came to die, she would not know where to find 
her marriage-portion. 

This quarrelling annoyed me, and I said to 
her : “We are not going to die ; on the contrary, 
we shall live a long while yet, to prevent you and 
your Jean Baptiste from inheriting our goods,” 

And thereupon I went to bed, leaving Gredel 
and her mother to come to a settlement together. 

All I can say is that girls, when they have got 
anytliing into their heads, become too bold with 
their parents, and all the excellent training tlif y 


86 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


have had ends in nothing. Tliank God, I had 
nothing to reproach myself with on that score, 
nor her mother either. Gredel had had four 
times as many blows as Jacob, because she de- 
served it, on account of her wanting to keep 
everything, putting it all into her own cupboard, 
and saying, “ There, that’s mine ! ” 

Yes, indeed, she had had plenty of correction 
of that kind : but you cannot beat a girl of 
twenty: you cannot correct girls at that age; and 
that was just my misfortune: it ought to go on 
forever ! 

Well, it can’t be helped. 

She upset the house and rummaged the mill 
from top to bottom, she visited the garden, and 
her mother said to her, You see, we have got it 
in a safe place ; since you cannot find it, the 
Uhlans won’t.” 

I remember that just as we were going up to 
sleep, that day, the 5th of August, early in the 
morning, Catherine and I had seen Cousin 
George in his char-Abanc coming down the val- 
ley of Doseiilieim, and it seemed .to ns that he 
was out very early. The village was waking up ; 
other people, too, were going to work : I lay down, 
and about eight o’clock my wife woke me to tell 
me that the postman, Michel, was there. I came 
down, and saw Michel standing in our parlor 
wnth liis latter-bag under his arm. He was 
thoughtful, and told me that the worst reports 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


87 


were abroad; that they were speaking of the 
great battle near Wissembonrg, where we had 
been defeated ; that several maintained that we 
had lost ten thousand men, and the Germans 
seventeen thousand ; but that there was nothing 
certain, because it was not known whence these 
rumors proceeded, only that the commanding offi- 
cer of Phalsbourg, Taillant, had proclaimed that 
morning that the inhabitants would be obliged to 
lay in provisions for six weeks. Naturally, such a 
proclamation set people a-thinking, and they said : 
“Have we a siege before us? Have we gone 
back to the times of the great retreat and down- 
fall of tlie first Emperor ? Ought things forever 
to end in the same fashion ? ” 

My wife, Gredel, and I, stood listening to 
Michel, with lips compressed, without interrupt- 
ing him. 

“ And you, Michel,” said I, when he had done, 
“ what do jmu think of it all ? ” 

“ Monsieur le Maire, 1 am a poor postman ; I 
want my place ; and if my five hundred francs a 
year were taken from me, what would become of 
my wfife and children ? ” 

Tlien I saw that he considered our prospects 
were not good. He handed me a letter from 
Monsieur le Sous-prefet— it was the last — telling 
me to watch false reports ; that false news should 
be severely punished, by order of our prefei 
Monsieur Podevin. 


88 


l^TORY OF THE FL^JBISCITE. 


We could have wished no better than that th« 
news had been false ! But at that time, every- 
thing that displeased the sous-prefets, the prefets, 
the ministers, and the Emperor, was false, and 
everything that pleased them, everything that 
helped to deceive people — like that peaceful Ple- 
biscite — was truth ! 

Let us change the subject : the thought of these 
things turns me sick I 

Michel went away, and all that day might be 
noticed a stir of excitement in onr village ; men 
coming and going, women watching, people go- 
ing into the wood, each with a bag, spade, and 
pickaxe ; stables clearing out ; a great movement, 
and all faces full of care : I have always thought 
that at that moment every one was hiding, bury- 
ing anything he could hide or bury. I was sorry 
I had not begun to sell my corn sooner, when my 
cousin had cautioned me a week before ; but my 
duties as mayor had prevented me : we must pay 
for our honors. I had still four cart-loads of corn 
in my barn — now where could I put them ? And 
the cattle, and the furniture, the bedding', provi- 
sions of every sort ? Never will our people forget 
those days, when every one was expecting, listen- 
ing, and saying : ‘AYe are like the bird upon the 
twig. We have toiled, and sweated, and saved 
for fifty years, to get a little property of our own ; 
to-morrow shall we have anything left? And 
next week, next month — shall we not be starving 


sronr of the plebiscite. 


89 


to death ? And in those days of distress, sliall 
we be able to borrow a couple of liards upon our 
land, or our house ? Who will lend to us ? And 
all this on account of whom ? Scoundrels' who 
have taken us in.” 

Ah! if there is any justice above, as every 
honest man believes, these abominable fellows 
will have a heavy reckoning to pay. So many 
miserable men, women, children await them 
there ; they are there to demand satisfaction for 
all their sufferings. Yes, I believe it. But they 
— oh ! they believe in nothing 1 There are, in- 
deed, dreadful brigands in this world 1 

All that day was spent thus, in weariness and 
anxiety. ISrothing was knowm. We questioned 
the people who were coming from Dosenheim, 
Xeuviller, or from farther still, but they gave no 
answer but this : ‘‘ Make your preparations ! The 
enemy is advancing ! ” 

And then my stupid fool of a deputy, Placiard. 
who for fifteen years did nothing but cry for 
tobacco licenses, stamp offices, promotion for his 
sons, for his son-in-law, and even for himself — a 
sort of beggar, who spent his life in drawing up 
petitions and denunciations — he came into the 
Jiiill, saying, “ Monsieur le Maire, everything is 
going on well — 9a marche — the enemy are being 
drawn into the plain : they are coming into the 
net. To-morrow we shall hear that they ar'^ all 
exterminated, every one I ” 


90 


STOBT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


And the municipal councillors, Arnold, Franta 
Sepel, Baptiste Dida, the wood-monger, came 
crowding in, saying that the enemy must be ex- 
terminated ; that fire must be set to the forest of 
Haguenaii to roast them, and so on ! Every one 
had his own plan. What fools men can be ! 

But the worst of it was when my wife, having 
learned from Michel the proclamations in the 
town, went up into our bacon stores, to send a few 
provisions to Jacob ; and she perceived our two 
best hams were missing, with a pig’s cheek, and 
some sausages which had been smoked weeks. 

Then 3^011 should have seen her flying down 
the stairs, declaring that the house was full of 
thieves ; that there was no trusting anybody ; and 
Gredel crying louder than she, that surely Frantz, 
that thief of a Badener, had made off with them. 
But mother had visited the bacon-room a couple 
of days after Frantz had left ; she had seen that 
everything was straight; and her wrath re- 
doubled. 

Then said Gredel that perhaps Jacob, before 
leaving home, had put the hams into his bag with 
all the rest ; but mother screamed, “ It is a false- 
hood ! I should have seen it. Jacob has never 
taken anything without asking for it. lie is an 
honest lad.” 

The clatter of the mill was music compared to 
this uproar : I could have wished to take to 
flight. 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 


91 


About seven my cousin came back upon his 
char-a-banc. He was returning from Alsace; 
and I immediately ran into his house to hear 
what news he had. George, in his large parlor, 
was pulling off his boots and putting on his 
blouse when I entered. 

Is that you, Christian ? ” said he. “ Is your 
money safe ? ” 

‘‘ Yes.” 

“Yery well. I have just heard fine news at 
Bonxviller. Our affairs are in splendid order! 
AYe have famous generals ! Oh, yes ! here is 
rather a queer beginning ; and, if matters go on 
in this way, we shall come to a remarkable end.” 

His wife, Marie Anne, was coming in from the 
kitchen : she set upon the table a leg of mutton, 
bread, and wine. George sat down, and whilst 
eating, told me that two regiments of the line, a 
regiment of Turcos, a battalion of light infantry, 
and a regiment of light horse, with three guns, 
had been posted in advance of AYissembourg, and 
that they were there quietly bathing in the Lau- 
ter, and washing their clothes, right in front of 
fifty thousand Germans, hidden in the woods ; 
not to mention eighty thousand more on our right, 
who were only waiting for a good opportunity to 
cross the Khine. They had been posted, as it 
were, in the very jaws of a wolf, which had ^nly 
to give a snap to catch them, every one — and thi* 
had not failed to take place ! 


92 


STORY OF THE FLEBTSCITE. 


Tlie (jermans had surprised our small army 
corps the morning before ; fierce encounters ha^l 
taken place in the vines around Wissembonrg; 
our men were short of artillery ; the Turcos, the 
light-armed men, and the line had fought like 
lions, one to six : they had even taken eight guns 
in the beginning of the action ; but German sup- 
ports coming up in heavy masses had at last cut 
them to pieces; they had bombarded Wissem- 
bourg, and set fire to the town ; only a few of 
our men had been able to retreat to the cover ol 
the woods of Bitche going up the Yosse. It w^as 
said that a general had been killed, and that vil- 
lages were lying in ruins. 

It was at Bouxviller that my cousin had heard 
of this disaster, some of the light horsemen 
having arrived the same evening. There was 
also a talk of deserters ; as if soldiers, after being 
routed, without knowledge of a woody country 
full of mountains, going straight before them to 
escape from the enemy, should be denounced as 
deserters. This is one of the abominations that 
we have seen since that time. Many heartless 
people preferred crying out that these poor sol- 
diers had deserted rather than give them bread 
and wine : it was more convenient, and cheaper. 

Kow,” said George, “ all the army of Stras- 
bourg, and that of the interior, who should have 
been in perfect order, fresh, rested, and provided 
with everything at Ilaguenaii, but the rear of 


8T0B7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


93 


which is still lagging behind on the railways as 
far as Luneville ; all these are running down 
there, to check the invasion. Fourteen regiments 
of cavalry, principally cuirassiers and chasseurs, 
are assembling at Brumatli. Something is expect- 
ed there ; MacMahon is already on the heights of 
Beichshoffen, wdth the commander of engineers, 
Mold, of Ilaguenau, and other staff officers, to 
select his position. As fast as the troops arrive 
they extend before Biederbronn. I heard this 
from some people who were flying with wives and 
children, their beds and other chattels on carts, as 
I w^as leaving Bouxviller about three o’clock. 
They wanted to reach the fort of Petite Pierre ; 
but hearing that the fort is occupied by a com- 
pany, they have moved tow^ards Strasbourg. I 
think they were right. A great city, like Stras- 
bourg, has always more resources than a small 
place, where they have only a few palisades stuck 
up to hide flfty men.” 

This was what Cousin George had learned that 
very day. 

Hearing him speak, my flrst thought was to run 
to the mill, load as much furniture as I could 
upon 'two waggons, and drive at once to Phals- 
bourg ; but my cousin told me that the gates 
would be closed; that we should have to wait 
outside until the re-opening of the barriers ' and 
that we must hope that it would be time enough 
to-morrow. 


94 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


According to him, the great battle would not 
be fonght for two or three days yet, because a 
great number of Germans had yet to cross the 
river, and they would, no doubt, be opposed. It 
is true that the fifty thousand men who had made 
themselves masters of Wissembourg might de- 
scend the Sauer ; but then we should be nearly 
equal, and it was to the interest of the Germans 
only to fight when they were three to one. 
George had heard some officers discussing this 
point at the inn, in the presence of many listen- 
ers, and he believed, according to this, that the 
5th army corps, which was extending in the di- 
rection of Metz, by Eitche and Sarreguemines, 
under the orders of General de Failly, would have 
time to arrive and support MacMahon. I thought 
BO, too ; it seemed a matter of course. 

We talked over these miseries till nine o’clock. 
My wife and Gredel had come to carry their 
quarrels even to my Cousin Marie Anne’s, who 
said to them : Oh ! do try to be reasonable. 
Wliat matter two or three hams, Catherine ? 
Perhaps you will soon be glad to know that they 
have done good to Jacob, instead of seeing them 
eaten up by Uhlans under your own eyes.” ’ 

You may be sure that my wife did not agree 
with this. But at ten o’clock. Cousin Marie 
Anne, full of thought, having said that her hus- 
band was tired and that he had need of rest, we 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


95 


left, after having wished him good-evening, and 
we returned home. 

That night — if my wife had not awoke from 
time to time, to tell me that we were robbed, that 
the thieves were taking everything from ns, and 
that we should be ruined at last — I should have 
slept very well ; but there seemed no end to her 
worrying, and I saw that she suspected Gredel of 
having given the hams to Michel for Jean Baptiste 
Werner, without, however, daring to say so much. 
I was thinking of other things, and was glad to 
see her go down in the morning to attend to her 
kitchen ; not till then did I get an hour or two of 
sleep. 

The next day all was quiet in the village ; 
everybody had hid his valuables, and they only 
feared one thing, and that was a sortie from Phals 
bourg to carry off our cattle. All the children 
were set to watch in the direction of Wechem ; 
and if anything had stirred in that quarter, all 
the cattle would have been driven into the woods 
in ten minutes. 

But there was no movement. All the soldiers 
of the line had gone, and the commanding officer, 
Taillant, could not send the lads of our village to 
carry away their own parents’ cattle. 

So all this day, the 10th of August, was quie^ 
enough in our mountains. 

About twelve o’clock some wood-cutters oi 
Krappenfelz came to tell us that they could hear 


96 


8T0BY OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 


cannon on the heights of the Falberg, in the 
direction of Alsace ; but they were not belie\'ed, 
and it was said : “ These are inventions to frighten 
us.-’ For many people take a pleasure in fright- 
ening others. 

All was quiet until about ten o’clock at night. 
It was very warm ; I was sitting on a bench be- 
fore my mill, in my shirt sleeves, thinking of all 
my troubles. From time to time a thick cloud 
overshadowed the moon, which had not happened 
for a long time, and rain was hoped for. Gredel 
was washing the plates and dishes in the kitchen ; 
my wife was trotting up and down, peeping into 
tlie cupboards to see if anything else had been 
stolen besides her hams ; in the village, windows 
and shutters were closing one after another ; and 
I was going up to bed too, when a kind of a ru- 
mor rose from the wood and attracted my atten- 
tion; it was a distant murmuring; something was 
galloping there, carts were rolling, a gust of wind 
was passing. What could it be ? My wife and 
Gredel had gone out, and were listening too. At 
that moment, from the other end of the village, 
arose a dispute which prevented us from making 
out this noise any longer, which was approaching 
from the mountain, and I said to Catherine : “ The 
druidvards at the ^ Cruchon d’Or’ begin these 
disturbances every night. I must put an end to 
that, for it is a disgrace to the parish.” 

But I had scarcely said this when a crowd of 


STORY OF THE PL^IBISGITE. 97 

people appeared in the street opposite the mill, 
shouting, A deserter ! a deserter ! ’’ 

And the shrill voice of my deputy Placiard rose 
above all the rest, crying : Take care of the 
horse ! Mind you don’t let him escape ! ” 

A tall cuirassier was moving quietly in the 
midst of all this mob, every man in which wanted 
to lay hold of him — one by the arm, another by 
the collar. He was making no resistance, and 
his horse followed him limping, and hanging his 
head ; the hangard was leading him by the bridle. 
Placiard then seeing me at the door, cried : 
Monsieur le Maire, I bring you a deserter, one 
of those who fled from Wissembourg, and who 
are now prowling about the country to live and 
glut at the expense of the country people. He is 
drunk even now. I caught him myself.” All 
the rest, men and women, shouted : “ Shut him 
up in a stable ! Send for the gendarmes to fetch 
him away ! Do this — do that ” — and so on. 

I was much astonished to see this flne tall 
fellow, with his helmet and his cuirass, who could 
have shouldered his waj" in a minute through all 
these people, going with them like a lamb. 
Cousin George had come up at the same moment. 
We hardly knew what to do about this business, 
for man and horse were standing there perfectly 
still, as if scupefled. 

At last I felt I must say something, and I said : 
“ Come in.” 

5 


98 


STORY OF TEE PLl^BlSGlTE. 


The hangard tied up the horse to the ring in 
the barn, and we all burst in a great crowd into 
ray large parlor downstairs, slamming the door in 
the face of all those brawlers who had nothing 
to do in the house ; but they remained outside, 
never ceasing for a moment to shout : ‘‘ A de- 
serter ! ” And half the village was coming : in 
all directions you could hear the wooden clogs 
clattering. 

Once in the room, my wife fetched a candle 
from the kitchen. Then, catching sight of this 
strong and square-built man, with his thick 
mustaches, his tall figure, his sword at his side, 
his -sleeves and his cuirass stained with blood, and 
the skin on one side of his face torn away and 
bruised all round to the back of the head, we saw 
at once that he was not a deserter, and that 
something terrible had happened in onr neighbor- 
hood ; and Placiard having again begun to tell 
us how he had himself caught this soldier in his 
garden, where the poor wretch was going to hide, 
George cried indignantly : “ Come now, does a 
man like that hide himself? I tell you, M. 
Placiard, that it would have taken twenty like 
you to hold him, if he had chosen to resist.” 

The cuirassier then turned his head and gazed 
at George ; but he spoke net a word. He seemed 
to be mute with stupefaction. 

“ You have come from a fight, my friend, 
haven’t you ? ” said my cousin, gently. 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


99 


“ Yes, sir.” 

“ So they have been fighting to-day ? 

“Yes.” 

“ Wliere?” 

The cuirassier pointed in the direction of the 
Falberg, on the left by the saw-mills. ‘‘Down 
tliere,” he said, “ behind the mountains.” 

“ At Itcichshoffen ? ” 

“ Yes, that is it: at Deichshoffen.” 

“ This man is exhausted,” said George : “ Cath- 
erine, bring some wine.” My wife took the 
bottle out of the cupboard and filled a glass ; 
but the cuirassier would not drink : he looked on 
the ground before him, as if something was before 
his eyes. What he had just told us made us 
turn pale. 

“ And,” said George, “ the cuirassiers charg- 
ed ? ” 

Yes,” said the soldier, “ all of them.” 

“ Where is your regiment now ? ” He raised 
his head. 

“ My regiment ? it is down there in the vine- 
yards, amongst the hops, in the river. . . .” 

“ What ! in the river ? ” 

“ Yes; there are no more cuirassiers ! ” 

“ No more cuirassiers ? ” cried my cousin ; 
“ the six regiments ? ” 

“ Yes, it is all over! ” said the soldier, in a low 
voice: “the grapeshvit has mown thrim down 
There aj'e none left ! ” 


100 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


“ Oh ! ’’ cried Placiard, now you see : what 
did I say ? He is one of those villains who prop- 
agate false reports. Can six regiments be 
mown down? Did you not j^ourself say, Mon- 
sieur le Maire, that those six regiments alone 
wou.d bear down everything before them ? ” 

I could answer nothing ; but the perspiration 
ran down my face. 

“You must lock him up somewhere, and let 
the gendarmes know,” continued Placiard. 
“Such are the orders of Monsieur le Sous-pre- 
fet.” 

f The cuirassier wiped with his sleeves the blood 
which was trickling upon his cheek ; he appeared 
to diear nothing. Out of all the open windows 
were leaning the forms of the village people, with 
. attentive ears. 

George and I looked at each other in alarm. 

“ You have blood upon you,” said my cousin, 
pointing to the soldier’s cuirass, who started and 
answered : 

“Yes; that is the blood of a white lancer : I 
killed him!” 

“ And that wound upon your cheek ? ” 

“ That was given me with a sword handle. I 
got that from a Bavarian officer — it stunned me 
— I could no longer see — m}^ horse galloped away 
with me.” 

“ So you were hand-to-hand?” 

“ Yes, twice ; we could not use our swords : 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. IQl 

the men caught hold of one another, fought and 
killed one another with sword hilts.” 

Placiard was again going to begin his exclama^ 
tions, when George became furious : “ Hold your 
tongue, you abominable toady! Are you not 
ashamed of insulting a brave soldier, who has 
fought for his country ? ” 

“ Monsieur le Maire,” cried Placiard, “ will 
you suffer me to be insulted under your roof 
while I am fulfilling my duties as deputy ? ” 

I was much puzzled : but George, looking an- 
grily at him, was going to answer for me ; when 
a loud cry arose outside in the midst of a furious 
clattering of horses : a terrible cry, which pierced 
to the very marrow of our bones. 

The Prussians ! The Prussians ! ” 

At the same moment a troop of disbanded 
horsemen were flying past our windows at full 
speed ; they flashed past us like lightning ; the 
crowd fell back ; the women screamed : Lord 
have mercy upon us ! we are all lost ! ” 

After these cries and the passage of these men, 
I stood as if rooted to the floor, listening to what 
was going on outside ; but in another minute all 
was silence. Turning round, I saw that every- 
body, neighbors, men and women, Placiard, the 
rural policeman, all had slipped out behind. 
Gredel, my wife, George, the cuirassier, and my- 
self, stood alone in the room. My cousin said to 
me : “ This man has told you the truth ; the 


102 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


great battle has been fought and lost to-day ^ 
These are the first fugitives who liave just passed. 
Now is the time for calmness and courage; let 
everybody be prepared : we are going to Avitness 
terrible things.” 

And turning to the soldier: “You may go> 
my friend,” he said, “ your horse is there ; but if 
you had rather stay — ” 

“ No ; I AAdll not be made prisoner ! ” 

“ Then come, I will put you on the Avay.” 

We Avent out together. The horse before the 
barn had not moved ; I helped the cuirassier to 
mount : George said to him : “ Here, on the right, 
is the road to Metz ; on the left to Phalsbourg ; 
at Phalsbourg, by going to the right, you Avill be 
on the road to Paris.” 

And the horse began to Avalk, dragging itself 
painfully. Then only did Ave see that a shred of 
flesh Avas hanging doAvn its leg, and that it had 
lost a great deal of blood. My cousin folloAA^ed, 
forgetting to say good-night. Was it possible to 
sleep after that ? 

From time to time during the night horsemen 
I’ode past at the gallop. Once, at daybreak, I 
Avent to the mill-dam, to look doAvn theA'alley; 
they Avere coming out of the woods by fives, sixes, 
and tens, .leaping out of the hedges, smashing the 
young trees ; instead of folloAving the road, they 
passed through the fields, crossed the riA’er, and 


STORY OF THE PLtBISGITE. 


103 


rode up the hill iu front, without troubling about 
the crops. There seemed no end of them ! 

About six the bells began to ring for matins. 
It was Sunday, the Yth August, 1870 ; the weather 
was magnificent. Monsieur le Cure crossed the 
street at nine, to go to church, but only a few old 
women attended the service to pray. 

Then commenced the endless passage of the 
defeated army retreating upon Sarrebourg, down 
the valley ; a spectacle of desolation such as I 
shall never forget in my life. Hundreds of men 
who could scarcely be recognized as Frenchmen 
were coming up in disordered bands ; cavalry, in- 
fantry, cuirassiers without cuirasses, horsemen on 
foot, foot soldiers on horseback, three-fourths un- 
armed ! Crowds of men without officers, all go- 
ing straight on iu silence. 

What has always surprised me is that no officers 
were to bo seen. What had become of them ? 
I cannot say. 

No more singing. No more cries of “ Yive 
I’Einpercur ! ” A Berlin ! a Berlin !” 

Dismay and discouragement were manifest in 
every countenance. 

Those who shall come after will see worse 
things than this : since men are wolves, foxes, 
hawks, owls, all this must come round again : a 
liundred times, a thousand times; from age to 
ajie, until the consummation of time : it is the 
glory of kings and emperors passing by ! 


104 8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

They all cry, “ Jesus, have pity upon us, miser- 
able sinners ! J esus. Saviour, bless us ! ” 

But all this time they are hard at work with 
the liooked bill and the sharp claws upon the un- 
happy carcass of mankind. Each tears away his 
morsel ! And yet they all have faith, Lutherans 
and Catholics : they are all worthy people ! And 
80 on forever. 

Thus passed our army after the battle of 
Beichshoffen ; and the others the Germans were 
following : they were at Haguenau, at Tugwiller, 
at Bouxviller ; they were advancing from Dosen- 
heim, to enter our valley ; very soon we were to 
see them ! 


STORY OF THE PLEBTSCITE. 


105 


CHAPTEK YI. 

All that day we were in a state of fear. 
Gr^del alone was afraid of nothing ; slie came in 
and ont, bringing us the news of Rothalp. 

Many people from Tugwiller, Neuwiller, Do- 
senheirn, passed through the village with carta 
full of furniture, bedding, mattresses, all in con- 
fusion, shouting, calling to each other, whipping 
their horses, turning round to see if the Uhlans 
were not at their heels ; it was the general flight 
before the deluge. These unhappy beings had 
lost their heads. They said that the Prussians 
were taking possession of all the boys of fifteen 
or sixteen to lead their horses or carry thei v bags. 

Two soldiers of the line who passed about 
twelve were still cariying their rifles ; tlioj^ were 
white with dust. I called them in, through the 
window, and gave them a glass of wine. They 
belonged to the 18th, and told us that their 
regiment no longer existed ; that all their officers 
were killed or wounded ; that another regiment, 
I cannot remember which, had fired upon them 
for a long time ; that at last ammuni<ion was 
5 * 


J.06 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


waiitinof ; that at the fort of La Petite Pierre the 
garrison had refused to receive them; and that 
the 5th Army Corps, commanded by General 
de Failly, posted in the neighborhood of Bitche, 
might have come in time to fall into position ; 
and a good deal more besides. 

These were brave men, whose hearts had not 
failed them. They started again in the direction 
of Phalsbonrg, and we wished them good luck. 

In the afternoon Marie Anne came to see ns. 
Her husband had started for the town early, 
saying that nothing positive could be learned in 
our place ; that the soldiers saw nothing but 
their own little corner of the battle-field, without 
troubling themselves about the rest, and that he 
would learn exactly down there if we had any 
hope left. 

George was to return for dinner; but at seven 
o’clock he was not home yet. Ilis wife was un- 
easy. Bad news kept coming in ; peasants veere 
arriving from Neuwiller, who said that the Prus- 
sians were already mai-ching upon Saverne, and 
were making requisitions as they went. The 
peasants were flying to Dabo in the mountains ; 
the women, through force of habit, were telling 
their beads as th3y walked ; whilst the men. great 
consumers of eau-de-vie, were flourishing their 
sticks, and looking in their rear with threatening 
gestures, which did not hinder them from step- 
ping out rapidly. 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


107 


One of these men, whom I asked if he had 
seen the battle, told me that the dead were heaped 
np in the fields like sacks of fionr in my mill. I 
think he was inventing that, or he had heard it 
from others. 

Night was coming on, and Cousin Marie Anne 
was going home, when all at once George came 
in. 

“ Is my wife here, Christian ? ” he asked. 

‘‘ Yes ; you will sup with us ? ” 

“ No ; I have had something to eat down there. 
But what sights 1 have seen ! It is enough to 
drive one mad.” 

“ And Jacob ? ” asked my wife. 

“ Jacob is learning drill. lie got a rifie the 
day before yesterday, and to-morrow he will have 
to fight.” 

George sat down in the window-corner while 
we were at supper, and he told us that on his ar- 
rival at Phalsboiirg, about six in the morning, the 
gate of France had just been opened, but that 
that of Germany, facing Saverne, remained 
closed ; that in that direction from the outposts 
to Quatre Yents, nothing was to be seen but 
fugitives, calling, and firing pistol-shots to got 
themselves admitted; that he had had time to 
put up his horse and cart at the Yille de Bale, 
and to go upon the ramparts to witness this spec- 
tacle, when at the same instant the drawbridge 
fell, and the crowd of Turcos, Zouaves, foot- sol 


108 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE, 


diers, officers, generals, all in a confused mass 
had rushed through the gate ; in the whole num- 
ber, he had seen but one flag, surrounded by 
about sixty men of the 55th, commanded by a 
lieutenant; the rest were mingled together, in 
hopeless confusion, the most part without arms, 
and under no sort of discipline; they had lost all 
respect for their chiefs. It was a rout — a com- 
plete rout. 

He had seen superior officers invaded at their 
own tables under the tent of the Cafe Meyer, by 
private soldiers, and veterans throwing them- 
selves back in their chairs with elbows squaj*ed in 
the presence of their officers, looking defiantly 
upon them, and shouting, “ A bottle ! ” The wait- 
ers came obsequiously to wait upon them for fear 
of a scene, whilst the officers pretending to hear 
and see nothing, seemed to him the worst thing 
he had seen yet. Yet it was deserved ; for tliese 
officers — officers of rank — knew no more about 
the roads, paths, streams and rivers of the coun- 
try than their soldiers, who knew nothing at all. 
They did not even know the way from Phals- 
boifirg to Sarrebourg by the high-road, which a 
child of eight might know. 

He had heard a staff-officer ask if Sarrebourg 
was an open town ; he had seen whole battalions 
halting upon that road, not knowing whether they 
were right. 

We should ourselves see these deplorable thingg 


8T0BT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


109 


next day, for our retreating soldiers did nothing 
but turn and turn again ten times upon the same 
roads, around the same mountains, and ended bv 
returning to the same spot again so tired, ex- 
hausted, and starved, that the Prussians, if they 
had come, would only have had to pick them up 
at their leisure. 

Yet George had one moment’s satisfaction in 
this melancholy disorganization ; it was to see, as 
he told us, those sixty men of the 56th halt in 
good order upon the place, and there rest their 
flag against a tree. The lieutenant who com- 
manded them made them lie on the ground, near 
their rifles, and almost immediately they fell 
asleep in the midst of the seething crowd. The 
young ofiicer himself went quietly to sit alone at 
a small table at the cafe. 

“ He,” said my cousin, “ had a map cut into 
squares, which he began to study in detail. It 
gave me pleasure to look at him ; he reminded 
me of our naval ofiicers. He knew something ! 
And whilst his men were asleep, and his rescued 
flag was standing there, he watched, after all this 
terrible defeat. Colonels, commanders, were ar- 
riving depressed and wearied ; the lieutenant did 
not stir. At last he folded up his map and put it 
back into his pocket, then he went to lie down in 
the midst of his men, and soon fell asleep too. 
He,” said my cousin, “ was an ofiicer ! As for 
the rest, I look upon them as the cause of our 


110 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


ruin : they have never commanded, they have 
never learned. There is no want of able men in 
the artillery and engineers ; but tliey are only 
there to do their part : they command only tlieir 
own arm, and are compelled to obey superior 
oi’ders, even when those orders have no sense in 
them.’’ 

One thing which made my cousin tremble with 
anger, was to learn that the Emperor had the su- 
preme command, and that nothing might be done 
without taking his Majesty’s instructions at head- 
quarters : not a bridge might be blown up, not a 
tunnel, before receiving his Majesty’s permission ! 

What is the use of sending or receiving de- 
spatches ? ” said George. “ I onl}^ hope our hon- 
est man will be found to have given orders to 
blow up the Archeviller tunnel, or the Prussians 
will overrun the whole of France ; they will con- 
vey their guns, their munitions of war, their pro- 
visions, and their men by railway, whilst our poor 
soldiers will drag along on foot and perish mis 
erably ! ” 

Listening to him our distress increased more 
and more. 

He had seen in the place a few guns saved 
from capture, with their horses fearfully mangled, 
and already so thin with overwork, that one might 
have thought they had come from the farthest 
end of Pussia. And all these men, comiuir and 
going, laid themselves down in a line under the 


STORY OF THE PLFBISGITE. 


11 ] 


walls to sleep, at the risk of being run over a 
hundred times. 

The doors and windows of all the houses were 
open ; the soldiers might be seen densely crowded 
in the side sti*eets, the passages, the rooms, the 
vestibules and yards, busily eating. The towns- 
people gave them all they had ; the poorest shed 
tears that they had nothing to give, so many poor 
wretches inspired pity ; they were so commiser- 
ated that they had been beaten. In richer houses 
they were cooking from morning till night ; when 
one troop was satisfied* another took their place. 

George, relating these things, had his eyes filled 
with tears. 

“Well, there are a good many kind people in 
the world yet,” said he. “ Yery soon those poor 
Phalsbourgers, when they are blockaded, will 
have nothing to put into their own mouths ; their 
six weeks’ victuals are already consumed, without 
mentioning their other provisions. Compared 
with these poor townspeople, we peasants are sel 
fish monsters.” 

He fixed his eyes upon us, and we answered 
nothing. I had already driven our cows into the 
wood, with the flocks of the village. Doubtless 
he knew of it ! But surely we must keep some- 
thing to eat ! George was right ; but one cannot 
help thinking of the morrow : those who do not 
are sure to repent sooner or later. 

Well, well — all the same, it was very Jne of 


112 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


tliese townspeople ; but they have suffered heavil} 
for it : during four months the officer in com- 
mand kept everything for his soldiers, and toolj 
away from the inhabitants all that they had; 
whether they were willing or not. 

I do affirm these things. People will take them 
for what they are worth ; but it is only the sim- 
ple truth ! What afflicted us still more was to 
hear what George had to tell us of the battle. 

In the midst of that great crowd he had long 
sought for some one to tell him all about it. At 
last the sight of an old sergeant of chasseurs-d- 
pied^ thin and tough as whip-cord, his sleeve cov- 
ered with stripes, and with a bright eye, made 
him think : “ There’s my man ! I am sure he 
has had a clear insight into things ; if he will talk 
to me, I shall get at the bottom of the story.” 

So he had invited him into the inn, to take a 
glass of wine. The sergeant examined him for 
a moment, accepted, and they entered together 
the Ville de BMe at the end of the court, for all 
the rooms were full of people ; and there, eating 
a slice of ham and drinking a couple of bottles 
of Lironcourt, the sergeant having his heart 
opened, and receiving, moreover, a cent-sous j^iece, 
had declared that all our misfortunes arose from 
two causes : firsts that a height on the right had 
not been occupied, whence the Germans had 
made their appearance only about twelve o’clock, 
and from which they could not be dislodged be- 


8T0ET OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


118 


cause tliey commanded the whole field of battle ; 
and because their artillery, more numerous and 
better than ours, searched us through and through 
with shell and grape ; their practice was so ad- 
mirable that it was no use falling back, or bearing 
to the right or the left : at the first shot their balls 
fell into the midst of our ranks. We have since 
heard that the heights to which the sergeant re- 
ferred were those of Gunstedt. 

He then told George that the 5th corps, com- 
manded by De Failly, which was expected from 
hour to hour, never appeared at all ; that even if 
he had come, we probably should not have won 
the battle, for the Germans were three or four to 
one — ^but that we might have effected a retreat in 
good order by Niederbronn upon Saverne. 

This old sergeant was from the Nievre ; George 
has often spoken to me of him since, and told me 
that, in his opinion, he knew much more than 
many of MacMahon’s ofiicers ; that he possessed 
good sense, and had a clear perception of things. 
George was of opinion that, with a little training, 
many Frenchmen of the lower ranks would be 
found to possess military genius, and that they 
might be confidently relied upon ; but that our 
love of dancing and plays had done us harm, 
sincte it was supposed that good dancers and good 
actors would be able men : which would be the 
cause of our ruin if we did not abandon such 
notions. 


114 


STORY OF THE PLiJBISCITE. 


My cousin told me many other things that even- 
ing which have escaped my memory ; onr terrible 
anxiety for the future prevented me from listen- 
ing properly. But all the misfortunes in the 
world have not the power of depriving a man of 
sleep ; though for the last two days we had never 
slept. George and his wdfe went home about ten, 
and we went to bed. 

Next day I had to celebrate the marriage of 
Chretien Bichi with his first cousin Lisbette ; 
notice had been given for a week, and when invi- 
tations are sent out such things cannot be post- 
poned. I should have liked to be carrying my 
hay and straw into the wood, for cattle cannot 
live upon air ; and as I was pressed for time, I 
sent for Placiard to take my place. But he could 
nowhere be found ; he had gone into hiding like 
all the functionaries of the Empire, who are al- 
ways ready to receive their salaries and to de- 
nounce people in quiet times, and very sharp in 
taking themselves off the moment they ought to be 
at their posts. 

At ten o’clock, then, I was obliged to put on 
my sash and go ; the wedding party were waiting, 
and I went up into the hall with them. I sat in 
the arm-chair, telling the bridegroom and bride 
to draw near, which of course they did. 

I was beginning to read the chapter on the 
duties of husband and wife, when in a moment a 
great shouting arose outside: “The Prussians 1 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


115 


the Prussians ! ” One of the groomsmen, with 
his bunch of roses, left ; Chretien Pichi turned 
round, the bride and the rest looked at the door ; 
and I stood there, all alone, stuck fast with the 
clerk, Adam Fix. In a moment the groomsman 
returned, crying out that the people of Phals- 
bourg were making a sortie into the wood to lift 
our cattle ; and that they were coming too to 
search our houses. Then I could have sent all 
the wedding-party to Patagonia, when I fancied 
the position of my wife and Gredel in such a 
predicament ; but a mayor is obliged to keep his 
dignity, and I cried out : “ Do you want to be 
married ? Yes or no ? ” 

They returned in a moment, and answered 
Yes ! ” 

“ Well, you are married ! ” 

And I went out while the witnesses signed, and 
ran to the mill. 

Haplpily this report of a sortie from Phals- 
bourg was false. A gendarme had just passed 
through the village, bearing orders from MacMa- 
hon, and hence came all this alarm. 

Nothing new happened until seven in the eve- 
ning. A few fugitives were still gaining the 
town ; but at nightfall began the passage of the 
5th Army Corps, commanded by General de 
Failly. 

So, then, these thirty thousand men, instead of 
descending into Alsace by Niederbronn, were 


116 STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

now coming behind ns by the road to Metz, on 
this side of the mountains. They were not even 
thinking of defending our passes, but were taking 
flight into Lorraine ! 

Half our village liad turned out, astonished to 
see this army moving in a compact mass, upon 
Sarrebourg and Fenetrange. Until then it had 
been thought that a second battle would be 
fought at Saverne. People had been speaking 
of defending the Falberg, the Yachberg, and all 
the narrow, rock-strewn passes ; the roads through 
which might have been broken up and defended 
with abattis, from which a few good shots might 
have kept whole regiments in check ; but the 
sight of these thousands of men who were for- 
saking us without having fought — their guns, 
their mitrailleuses, and the cavalry galloping and 
rolling in a cloud along the highway, to get far- 
ther out of the enemy’s reach — made our hearts 
bleed. Hobody could understand it. 

Then a poor disabled soldier, lying on the 
gi’ass, told me that they had been ordered from 
llitche to Niederbronn, from Niederbronn to 
Bitche, and then from Bitche to Petersbach and 
Ottwiller, by dreadful roads, and that now they 
could hold on no longer : they were all ex- 
hauste 1 ! And in spite of myself, I thought that 
if men worn out to this degree were obliged to 
tight against fresh troops continually reinforced, 
they would be beaten before they could strike a 


STORY OF THE PLtlBISCITE. 


117 


blow! Yes, indeed, the want of knowledge of 
the country is one of the causes of our miseries. 

Gredel, Catherine, and I, returned to the mill 
in the greatest distress. 

It had at last begun to rain, after two months’ 
drought. It was a heavy rain, which lasted all 
the night. 

My wife and Gredel had gone to bed, but I 
could not close my eyes. I walked up and down 
in the mill, listening to this down-pour, the heavy 
rumbling of the guns, the pattering of endless 
footsteps in the mud. It was march, march — • 
marching without a pause. 

How melancholy 1 and how I pitied these un- 
happy soldiers, spent with hunger and fatigue, 
and compelled to retreat thus. 

Now and then I looked at them through the 
window-panes, dow'n which the rain was stream- 
ing. They were marching on foot, on hoi'seback, 
one by one, by companies, in troops, like shad- 
ows. And every time that I opened the window 
to let in fresh air, in the midst of this vast tramp- 
ling of feet, those neighings, and sometimes the 
curses of the soldiers of the artillery-train, or the 
horseman whose horse had dropped from fatigue 
or refused to move further, I could hear in the 
far distance, across the plain two or three leagues 
from us, the whistle of the trains still coming 
and going in the passes. 

Then noticing upon the wall one of those maps 


118 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


of the theatre of war which tlie Government had 
sent ns three weeks ago, and which extended from 
Alsace as far as Poland, I tore it down, crumpled 
it lip in my hand, and flung it out. Everything 
came back to me full of disgust. Those maps^ 
those fine maps, were part of the play ; just like 
the conspiracies devised by the police, and the 
explanations of the sous-prefets to make us vote 
“ Yes ” in the Plebiscite. Oh, you play-actors ! 
you gang of swindlers ! Have you done enough 
yet to lead astray your imbecile people ? Have 
you made them miserable enough with your ill- 
contrived plays? 

And it is said that the whole affair is going to 
be played over again : that they mean to put a 
ring through our noses to lead us along ; that 
many rogues are reckoning upon it to settle their 
little affairs, to slip back into their old shoes and 
get fat again by slow degrees, humping their backs 
just like Qur cure’s cat when she has found her 
saucer again after having taken a turn in the 
woods or the garden : it is possible, indeed ! But 
then France will be an object of contempt; and 
if those fellows succeed, she will be worse than 
contemp tible, and honorable men will blush to be 
called Frenchmen ! 

At daybreak I went to raise the mill-dam, fur 
this heavy rain had overflowed the sluice. The 
last stragglers were passing. As I was looking 
up the village, my neighbor Bitter, the publican, 


8T0R7 OF THE FLi^BISGITE. 119 

was coming out from under the cart-shed with 
his lantern; a stranger was . following him — a 
young man in a gray overcoat, tight trousers, a 
kind of leather portfolio hanging at his side, a 
small felt hat turned up over his ears, and a red 
ribbon at his button-hole. 

This I concluded was a Parisian ; for all the 
Parisians are alike, just as the English are : you 
may tell them among a thousand. 

I looked and listened. 

“ So,” said this man, “ you have no horse ? ” 

“ E’o, sir ; all our beasts are in the wood, and 
at such a time as this we cannot leave the village.” 

“ But twenty francs are pretty good pay for 
four or five hours.” 

“ Yes, at ordinary times ; but not now.” 

Then I advanced, asking : Monsieur offers 
twenty francs to go what distance ? ” 

‘‘ To Sarrebourg,” said the stranger, astonished 
to see me. 

‘‘ If you will say thirty, I will undertake to con- 
vey you there. I am a miller ; I always want 
my horses ; there are no others in the village.” 

“ Well, do ; put in your horses.” 

These thirty francs for eight leagues had 
flashed upon me. My wife had just come down 
into the kitchen, and I told her of it ; she thought 
I was doing right. 

Having then eaten a mouthful, with a glass of 
wine, I went out to harness my horses to my light 


120 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


cart. The Parisian was already there waiting 
for me, his leather portmanteau in his hand. I 
threw into the cart a bundle of straw ; he sat 
down near me, and we went off at a trot. 

This stranger seeing my dappled grays gallop- 
ing through the mud, seemed pleased. First he 
asked me the news of our part of the country, 
which I told him from tlie beginning. Then in 
his turn he began to tell me a good deal that 
was not yet known by us. He composed ga- 
zettes ; lie was one of those who followed the 
Emperor to record his victories. He was coming 
from Metz, and told me that General Frossard 
had just lost a great battle at Forbach, through 
his own fault in not being in the field while his 
troops were fighting, but being engaged at bil- 
liards instead. 

You may be sure I felt that to be impossible : 
it would be too abominable ; but the Parisian 
said so it was, and so have many repeated since. 

“ So that tlie Prussians,” said he, “ broke 
through us, and I have had to lose a horse to get 
out of the confusion : the Uhlans were pursuing; 
they followed nearly to a place called Droulin- 
gen.” 

“ That is only four leagues from this place,” 
said I. “ Are they already there? ” 

“ Yes ; but they fell back immediately to re- 
join the main body, which is advancing upon 
Toul. I had lioped to recover lost ground by 


STORY OF THE PLilBISCdTE. 


121 


telling of our victories in Alsace ; unfortunately? 
at Droulingen, the sad news of Keichslioffen,* and 
the alarm of the flying inhabitants, have informed 
me that we are driven in along our whole line ; 
there is no doubt these Prussians are strong ; they 
are very strong. But the Emperor will arrange 
all that with Bismarck ! ” 

Then he told me there was an understanding 
between the Emperor and Bismarck; that the 
Prussians would take Alsace ; that they would give 
us Belgium in exchange ; that we should pay the 
expenses of the war, and then things would all 
return into their old routine. 

“ His Majesty is indisposed,” said he, “ and has 
need of rest ; we shall soon have Napoleon lY., 
with the regency of her Majesty the Empress . 
the French are fond of change.” 

Thus spoke this newspaper-writer, who had 
been decorated, who can tell why ? He thought 
of nothing but of getting safe into Sarrcbourg, 
to catch the train, and send a letter to his paper ; 
nothing else mattered to him. It is well that 1 
had taken a pair of horses, for it went on raining. 
Suddenly we came upon the rear of De Eailly’a 
army ; his guns, powder-waggons, and his regi- 
ments so crowded the road, that I had to take to 
the fields, my wheels sinking in up to the axle- 
trees. 


Called generally by us, the Ba ttle of Woerth. 
6 


122 


STORY OF THE PLtJBISGITE. 


Nearing Sarrebourg, we saw also on our left 
the rear of the other routed army, the Turcos, the 
Zouaves, the chasseurs, the long trains of Mac- 
Mahon’s guns ; so that we were between' the two 
fugitive routs : De Failly’s troops, by their dis- 
order, looked just as if they had been defeated, 
like the other army. All the people who have 
seen this in our country can confirm my account, 
though it seems incredible. 

At last, I arrived at the Sarrebourg station, 
when the Parisian paid me thirty francs, which 
my horses had fairly earned. The families of all 
the railway emjploy'es were just getting into the 
train for Paris ; and you may be sure that this 
Government newspaper-writer was delighted to 
find himself there. , He had his free pass : but 
for that the unlucky man would have had to stay 
against his will ; like many others who at the 
present time are boasting loudly of having made 
a firm stand, waiting for the enemy. 

I quickly started home again by cross-roads, 
and about twelve I reached Pothalp. The 
artillery was thundering amongst the mountains ; 
crowds of people were climbing and running 
down the little hill near the church to listen to 
the distant roar. Cousin George was calmly 
smoking his pipe at the window, looking at all 
these people coming and going. 

‘‘ What is going on ? ” said I, stopping my cart 
before h^s door. 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


123 


Nothing,” said he ; “ only the Prussians at- 
tacking the little fort of Lichtenberg. But where 
are you coming from ? ” 

“ From Sarrebourg.” 

And I related to him in a few words what the 
Parisian had told me. 

Ah ! now it is all plain,” said he. “ I could 
not understand why the 5th Corps was filing off 
into Lorraine, without making one day’s stand in 
our mountains, which are so easily defended : it 
did really seem too cowardly. But now that 
Frossard is beaten at Forbach, the thing is ex- 
plained : our flank is turned. De Failly is afraid 
of being taken between two victorious armies. 
He has only to gain ground, for the cattle-dealer 
David has just told me that he has seen Uhlans 
behind Fenetrange. The line of the Yosges is 
surrendered; and we owe this misfortune to 
Monsieur Frossard, tutor to the Prince Impe- 
rial ! ” 

The schoolmaster, Adam Fix, was then coming 
down from the liill with his wife, and cried that 
a battle was going on near Bitche. lie did not 
stop, on account of the rain. George told me to 
listen a few minutes. We could hear deep and 
distant reports of heavy guns, and others not so 
loud. 

“ Those heavy reports,” said George, “ come 
from the great siege-guns of the fort ; the others 
are the enemy’s lighter artillery. At th’s mo- 


124 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


ment, the German army, at six leagues from ua, 
victorious in Alsace, is on the road from Woerth 
to Siewettler, to unite with the army that is mov- 
ing on Metz ; it is defiling past the guns of the 
fort. To-morrow we shall see their advanced 
guard march past us. It is a melancholy story, 
to be defeated through the fault of an imbecile 
and his courtiers ; but we must always remember, 
as a small consolation, to every man his turn.” 
He began again to smoke, and I went on my way 
home, where I put up my horses. I had earned 
my thirty francs in six hours ; but this did not 
give me complete satisfaction. My wife and 
Gredel were also on the hill listening to the fir- 
ing ; half the village were up there ; and all at 
once I saw Placiard, who could not be found the 
day before, jumping through the gardens, pufiing 
and panting for breath. 

“You hear. Monsieur le Maire,” he cried — 
“you hear the battle? It is King Victor Em- 
manuel coming to our help with a hundred and 
fifty thousand men ! ” 

At this I could no longer contain myself, and I 
cried, “ Monsieur Placiard, if you take me for a 
fool, you are quite mistaken ; and if you are one, 
you had better hold your tongue. It is no use 
any longer telling these poor people false news, 
as you have been doing for eighteen years, to 
keep up their hopes to the last moment. This 
will never more bring tobacco-excise to you, and 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


125 


stamp-oiBces to your sons. The time for play- 
acting is over. You are telling me this througli 
love of lying ; but I have had enough of all these 
abominable tricks ; I now see things clearly. We 
have been plundered from end to end by fellows 
of your sort, and now we are going to pay for 
you, without having had any benefit ourselves. 
If the Prussians become our masters, if they be- 
stow places and salaries, you will be their best 
friend ; you will denounce the patriots in the 
commune, and you will have them to vote plebis- 
cites for Bismarck ! What does it matter to you 
whether you are a Frenchman or a German? 
Your true lord, your true king, your true em- 
peror, is tlie man who pays ! ” 

As fast as I spoke my wrath increased, and all 
at once I shouted: “Wait, Monsieur I’Adjoint, 
wait till I come out ; I will pay you off for the 
Emperor, for his Ministers, and all the infamous 
crew of your sort who have brought the Prussians 
into France ! ” But I had scarcely reached the 
door, when he had already turned the corner. 


126 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


CHAPTER YU. 

On that day we had yet more alarms. 

Between one and two o’clock, standing before 
my mill, I fancied I could hear a drum beating 
up the valley. All the village was lamenting, 
and crying, Here are the Prussians ! ” 

All along the street, people were coming out, 
gazing, listening ; boys ran into the woods, moth- 
ers screamed. A few men more fearful than the 
rest went off too, each with a loaf under his arm ; 
women raised their hands to Heaven, calling them 
back and declaring they would go with them. 
And whilst I was gazing upon this sad spectacle, 
suddenly two carts came up, full gallop, from the 
valley of Graufthal. 

It was the noise of these two vehicles that I 
had mistaken for drums approaching. A week 
later I should not have made this mistake, for the 
Germans steal along like wolves: there is no 
drumming or bugling, as with us ; and you have 
twenty thousand men on your hands before you 
know it. 

The people riding in the carts were crying, 
‘‘ The Prussians are at the ba(;k of the saw-mills !” 


STORY OF THE PLJEBISCITE. 


127 


They could be heard afar ofP ; especially the 
women, who were raising themselves in the cart, 
throwing up their hands. 

At a hundred yards from the mill the cart 
stopped, and recognizing Father Diemer, munici- 
pal councillor, wlio was driving, I cried to him, 
“ Hallo, Diemer ! pull up a moment. What is 
going on down there % ” 

“ The Prussians are coming. Monsieur le 
Maire,” he said. 

“ Oh, well, well, if they must come sooner or 
later, what does it signify ? Do come down.” 

He came down, and told me that he had been 
that morning to the forest-house of Domenthal 
in his conveyance, to fetch away his wife and 
daughter who had been staying there with rela- 
tions for a few days ; and that on his way back 
he had seen in a little valley, the Fischbachel, 
Prussian infantry, their arms stacked, resting on the 
edge of the wood, making themselves at home ; 
which had made him gallop away in a hurry. 

That was what he had seen. 

Then other men came up, woodmen, who said 
that they were some of our own light infantry, 
and that Diemer had made a mistake; then more 
arrived, declaring that they were Prussians ; and 
so it went on till night. 

About seven o’clock I saw an old French sol- 
dier, the last who came through our village ; his 
leg was bandaged with a handkerchief, and he 


128 


ST0R7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


sat upon the bench before my house asking me 
for a piece of bread and a glass of water, for the 
love of God 1 I went directly and told Gredel to 
fetch him bread and wine. She poured out the 
wine herself for this poor fellow, who was suffer- 
ing great pain. He had a ball in his leg ; and, in 
truth, the wound smelt badly, for he had not 
been able to dress it, and he had dragged himself 
through the woods from Woerth. 

He had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, 
and told us that the colonel of his regiment had 
fallen, crying, Friends, you are badly command- 
ed ! Cease to obey your generals ! ” 

He only rested for a few minutes, not to let his 
leg grow stiff, and went on his weary way to 
Phalsbourg. 

He was the last French soldier that I saw after 
the battle of Heichshoffen. 

At night we were told that the peasants of 
Graufthal had found a gun stuck fast in the 
valley ; and two hours later, whilst we were sup- 
ping, our neighbor Katel came in pale as death, 
ci'ying, ‘‘ The Prussians are at your door ! ” 

Then I went out. Ten or fifteen Uhlans were 
standing there smoking their short wooden pipes, 
and watering their horses at the mill-stream. 

Imagine my surprise, especially when one of 
these Uhlans began to greet me in bad Prus- 
sian-German : “ Oho ! good-evening. Monsieur le 
Maire ! I hope you have been pretty well, Mon- 


STORY OF THE PLtJBlSGITE. 129 

sieur le Maire, since I last had not the pleasure 
of seeing you ? ” 

He was the officer of the troop. My wife, and 
Gredel, too, were looking from the door. As 1 
made no answer, he said, “And Mademoiselle 
Gredel ! here you are, as fresli and as happy as 
ever. I suppose you still sing morning and even- 
ing, while you are washing up ? ” 

Then Gredel, who has good eyes, cried, “ It is 
that great knave who came to take views in our 
country last year with his little box on four long 
legs ! 

And, even in the dusk, I could recognize one 
of those German photographers who had been 
travelling about the mountains a few months 
before, taking the likenesses of all our village 
folks. This man’s name was Otto Krell ; he was 
tall, pale, and thin, his nose was like a razor 
back, and he had a way of winking with his left 
eye while paying you compliments. Ah! the 
scoundrel 1 it was he, indeed, and now he was an 
Uhlan officer : when Gredel had spoken, I recog- 
nized him perfectly. 

“Exactly so, Mademoiselle Gredel,” said he, 
from his tall horse. “ It is I myself. You 
would have made a good gendarme ; you would 
have known a rogue from an honest man in a 
moment.” 

He burst out laughing, and Gredel said, “ Speak 
6 * 


130 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

in a language I can understand ; I cannot make 
out your patois.” 

“ But you understand very well the patois of 
Monsieur Jean Baptiste Werner,” answered this 
gallows-bird, making a grimace. “ How is good 
Monsieur Jean Baptiste ? Is he in as good spirits 
as ever ? Have you still got your little likeness 
of him, you know, close to your heart — that 
young gentleman, I mean, that I had to take 
three times, because he never came out handsome 
enough 1 ” 

Then Gredel, ashamed, ran into the house, and 
my wife took refuge in her room. 

Then he said to me, I am glad to see you, 
Monsieur le Maire, in such excellent health. I 
came to you, first of all, to wish you good-morn • 
ing ; but then, I must acknowledge, my visit has 
another object.” 

And as I still answered nothing, being too full 
of indignation, he asked me : 

“Have you still got those nice Swiss cows? 
splendid animals ? and the twenty-five sheep you 
had last year ? ” 

I understood in a moment what he was driving 
at, and I cried : “ We have nothing at all ; there 
is nothing in this village ; we are all ruined ; we 
cannot furnish you a single thing.” 

“ Oh ! come now, please don’t be angry. Mon- 
sieur We])er. I took your likeness, with your 
scarlet waistcoat and your great square-cut coat ; 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


131 


I know you very well, indeed ! you are a fine 
fellow ! I have orders to inform you that to- 
morrow morning 15,000 men will call here for 
refreshments ; that they are fond of good beef 
and mutton, and not above enjoying good white 
bread, and wine of Alsace, also vegetables, and 
coffee, and French cigars. On this paper yon 
will find a list of what they want. So you had 
better make the necessary arrangements to satisfy 
them ; or else, Monsieur le Maire, they will help 
themselves to your cows, even if they have to go 
and look for them in the woods of the Biechel 
berg, where you have sent them ; they will help 
themselves to your sacks of fiour, and your wine, 
that nice, light wine of Fikevir ; they will take 
everything, and then they will burn down youi 
house. Take my ad\dce, welcome them as Ger- 
man brothers, coming to deliver you from French 
bondage: for you are Germans, Monsieur Weber, 
in this part of the country. Therefore prepare 
this requisition yourself. If you want a thing 
done well, do it yourself ; you will find this plan 
most advantageous. It is out of friendship to 
you, as a German brother, and in return for the 
good dinner you gave me last year that I say tliis. 
And now, good-night.” 

He turned round to his men, and all together 
filed off in the darkness, going up by the left 
towards Berlingen. 

Then, without even going into my own house, 


132 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


I ran to my cousin’s, to tell him what had hap 
pened. He was going to bed. 

Well, what is the matter ? ” said he. 

Completely upset, I told him the visit I had 
had from these robbers, and what demands they 
had made. My cousin and his wife listened at- 
tentively ; then George, after a minute’s thought, 
said : Christian, force is force ! If 15,000 men 
are to pass here, it means that 15,000 will pass 
by Metting, 15,000 by Quatre Vents, 15,000 by 
Liitzelbourg, and so forth. We are invaded ; 
Phalsbourg will be blockaded, and if we stir, we 
j shall be knocked on the head without notice 
before we can count ten. What would you have ? 
It’s war ! Those who lose must pay the bill. 
The good men who have been plundering us for 
eighteen years have lost for us, and we are going 
to pay for them ; that is plain enough. Only, if 
we make grimaces while we pay, they ask more ; 
and if we. go to work without much grumbling, 
they will shave us not quite so close : they wdll 
pretend to treat us with consideration and indul- 
gence; they won’t rob quite so roughly; they 
will be a little more gentle, and strip you with 
more civility. I have seen that in my campaigns. 
Here is the advice which I give, for your own 
aud everybody else’s interest. First of all, this 
voi*y evening, you must send for your cows from 
the Biechelberg ; you will tell David Hertz to 
drive the two best to his slaughter-house ; and 


STORT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


133 


when the Prussians come and they have seen 
these two fine animals, David will kill them be- 
fore their eyes. He will distribute the pieces 
under the orders of the commandei’s. That will 
just make broth in the morning for the 15,000 
men, and if that is not enough, send for my best 
cow. All the village will be pleased, and they 
will say, ‘ The mayor and his cousin are sacri- 
ficing themselves for the commune.’ 

“ That will be a very good beginning ; but then 
as we shall have begun with ourselves, and no- 
body can make any objection after that, you had 
better put an ox of Placiard’s under requisition, 
then a cow of Jean Adam’s, then another of 
Father Diemer’s, and so on, in proportion to their 
wants ; and that will go on till the end of the 
cows, the oxen, the pigs, the sheep and the goats. 
And you must do the same with the bread, the 
fiour, the vegetables, the wine; always beginning 
at you and me. It is sad ; it is a great trouble ; 
but his Majesty the Emperor, his Ministers, his 
relations, his friends and acquaintances have 
gambled away our hay, our straw, our cattle, our 
money, our meadows, our houses, our sons, and 
ourselves, pretending all the while to consult us ; 
they have lost like fools : they never kept theii* 
eye on the game, because their own little provi- 
sion was already laid by, somewhere in Switzer- 
land, in Italy, in England, or elsewdiere; and they 
risked nothing but tliat 'S'ast flock which thej 


134 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


were always accustomed to shear, and which they 
call the people. Well, my poor Christian, that 
flock is ourselves — we peasants ! If I were 
younger; if I could make forced marches as 1 
did at thirty, I should join the army and fight ; 
but in the present state of tilings, all I can do is, 
like you, to bow down my back, with a heart full 
of wrath, until the nation has more sense, and ap - 
points other chiefs to command.” 

The advice of George met with my approba- 
tion, and I sent the herdsmen to fetch my cows 
at the Biechelberg. I told him, besides, to give 
notice to the principal inhabitants that if they did 
not bring back their beasts to the village, the 
Prussians would go themselves and fetch them, 
because they knew the country roads better than 
ourselves; and that they would put into the 
pot first of all the cattle of those who did not 
come forward willingly. 

My wife and Gredel were standing by as I 
gave this order to Martin Kopp : they exclaimed 
against it, saying that I was losing my senses; 
but I had more sense than they had, and I fol- 
lowed the advice of George, who had never misled 
me. 

It was on the night of the 9th to the 10th of 
August that the small fortress of Lichtenberg, 
defended by a few veterans without ammunition, 
opened its gates to the Prussians ; that MacMahon 
left Sarrebourg with the remainder of his forces. 


STORY OF THE PL BIS CITE. 


185 


without blowing up the tunnel at Arclieviller, 
because his Majesty’s orders had not arrived ; 
that the Germans, concentrated at Saverne, after 
extending right and left from Phalsbourg, seiil 
first their Uhlans by the valley of Llitzelbourg to 
inspect tlie railway, supposing that it would be 
blown up, then sent an engine through the tunnel, 
then ventured a train laden with stones, and were 
much astonished to find it arriving in Lorraine 
without difficulty ; tliat MacMahon made his re- 
treat on foot, whilst they advanced on trucks and 
carriages; and that they were able to send on 
their guns, their stores, their provisions, their 
horses and their men towards Paris ; maintaining 
their troops by exhausting the provisions of Al- 
sace and the other side of the Vosges. These 
Ihings we learned afterwards. 

That same night the Prussians put their first 
guns into battery at the Quatre Vents to. bombard 
the town, whilst they went completely round to 
the other side, by the fine road over the Falberg, 
which seemed to have been constructed through 
the forest expressly for their convenience. 

They lost no time, examined and inspected 
everything, and found everything in perfect order 
to suit their convenience. 

That night passed away quietly ; they had too 
many things to look after to trouble themselves 
about our little village hidden in the woods, 
knowing well that we could neither run away nor 


136 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


defend ourselves ; for all our young men were in 
the town, and we were unharmed and without 
any material of war. They left us to be gobbled 
up whenever they liked. 

Many have as&3rted, and still believe, that we 
have been delivered up to the Germans in ex- 
change for Belgium; because Alsace, according 
to the Emperor, was a German and Lutheran 
country, and Belgium, French and Catholic. But 
Cousin George has always said that these conjec- 
tures were erroneous, and that our misfortunes 
arose entirely from the thievishness of the Govern- 
ment ; and chiefly of those who, under color of 
upholding the dynasty, were making a good bag, 
granted themselves pensions, enriched themselves 
by sweeping strokes of cunning, and became 
great men at a cheap rate : and also from the 
folly of the people, who were kept steeped in ig- 
norance, to make them praise the tricks and the 
robberies of the rest. 

My opinion is the same. 

It was the cupidity of some in depriving the 
country of a powerful and numerous army, able 
to defend us ; whilst, on the other hand, they de- 
prived what army there was of provisions, arms, 
and munitions of war : surely this was enough ! 
There is no ne»d to go further to seek for the 
causes of our shame and our miseries. 

Therefore our cattle returned from the Biechel- 
berg in obedience to m^^ orders ; and my two best 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


137 


COWS waited in the stable, eating a few handfuls 
of hay, until the first requisition of the Prussians 
should aiTive. 

The village people who saw this highly ap 
proved of my conduct, never imagining that then 
turn would come so soon. 

Time passed away, and it was supposed that 
this quiet might last a good while, when a squad- 
ron of Prussian lancers, and, a little farther on, a 
squadron of hussars, appeared at the bottom of 
our valley. For an advanced guard they had a 
few Ulilans — an order which we have since no- 
ticed they observed constantly ; three hundi-ed 
paces to the front rode two horsemen, each with 
a pistol in his hand resting on the thigh, and who 
halted from time to time to question people, 
threatening to kill them if they did not give ydain 
answers to their questions; and behind them 
came the main body, always at the same dis- 
tance. 

We, standing under our projecting eaves, or 
leaning out of our windows, men, women, and 
children, gazed upon .the men who were coming 
to devour us, to ruin us, and strip tlie very fiesh 
off our bones. It was, as it were, the Plebiscite 
advancing upon us under our own eyes, armed 
with pistol and sword, the guns and the bayonets 
behind. 

First, the cavalry extended from the hill at 
Jierlingen to the Graufthal, to Wechem, to Mit- 


138 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


telbronii, and farther still ; then marched up sev 
eral regiments of infantry, their black and white 
standards flying. 

We were watching all this without stirring. 
The ofiicers, in spiked helmets, were galloping to 
and fro, canwing orders ; the cure Daniel, in his 
presbytery, had lifted his little white blinds, and 
our neighbor Katel exclaimed, “ Dear, dear, one 
would never have thought there could be so many 
heretics in the world.” 

This is exactly the state of ignorance that 
had been kept up amongst us from generation to 
generation: making people believe that there 
was nobody in the universe besides themselves ; 
that we were a thousand to one, and that our 
religion was universal. Pure and simple folly, 
upheld by lies ! 

It was a great help to us to have such grand 
notions about ourselves ! It made us feel enor- 
mously strong ! 

But hypocrites can always get out of their 
scrapes : they vanish in the distance with well- 
lined pockets, and their victims are left behind 
sticking in the mud up to the chin ! 

Since our reverend fathers the Jesuits have so 
many spies posted about in the world, they should 
have told us how strong the lieretics were, and 
not suffered us to believe until the last that we 
were the only masters of the earth. But they 
considered ; “ These French fools will allow 


STORY OF THE PLtJRISGITE. 


139 


themselves to be liacked down to the very last 
man for our honor ; they will drive back tho 
Lutherans ; and then we shall make a great fig- 
ure : the Holy Father will be infallible, and we 
shall rule under his name.’* 

These things are so evident now, that one is 
almost ashamed to mention them. 

As soon as the cavalry were posted on the 
heights of the place, at the rear of the hills, the 
infantry regiments, standing with ordered arms, 
began to march off. 

I could hear from my door the loud voices of 
the ofiicers, the neighing of the horses, and the 
departure of the battalions, which filed off, keep- 
ing step in admirable order. Ah ! if our ofiicers 
had been as highly trained, and our soldiers as 
firmly disciplined as the Germans, Alsace and 
Lorraine would still have been French. 

I may be told that a good patriot ought to re- 
frain from saying such things ; but what is the 
use of hiding facts? Would hiding them pre- 
vent them from being true ? I say these things 
on purpose to open people’s eyes. If we want to 
recover what we have lost, everything must be 
changed ; our ofiicers must be educated, our sol- 
diers disciplined, our contractors must supply 
stores, clothing, and provisions without blunders 
and deficiencies, or if they fail they must be shot ; 
the life of a brave and generous nation is better 
worth than that of a knave, whose ignorance, 


140 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

laziness, or cupidity may cause the loss of provin 
ces. 

We must have a large, national army, like that 
of the Germans, and, to possess this army, every 
man must serve ; the cripples and deformed in 
offices; every man besides, in the ranks. Full 
permission must be given to wear spectacles, 
which do not hinder a man from fighting ; and 
citizens, as well as workmen and peasants, must 
come under fire. Unless we do this, we shall be 
beaten — beaten again, and utterly ruined ! 

And above all, as Cousin George said, we must 
place at the head of affairs a man with a cool 
head, a warm heart, and great experience ; in 
whose eyes the honor of the nation shall be above 
his own interest, and on whose word all men may 
rely, because he has already proved that his confi- 
dence in himself Avill not desert him, even in the 
most perilous times. 

But we are yet very far from this; and one 
would really believe, in looking at the conceited 
countenances of the fugitives who are returning 
from England, Belgium, Switzerland, and farther 
yet, that they have won important victories, and 
that the country does them injustice in not hail- 
ing tliem as deliverers. 

And now 1 will quietly pursue this history of 
our village; whoever wants to come round me 
again with hypocritical pretences of honesty, will 
have to get up very early in the morning indeed 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


341 


After the Germans had posted their infanti*y 
within the squares formed by the cavalry, they 
dragged guns and ammunition up the lieight of 
Wechem, in the rear of our hills. Then the 
thoughts of Jacob, and all our poor lads, whom 
they were going to shell, came upon us, and 
mother began to cry bitterly. Gredel, too, think- 
ing of her Jean Baptiste, had become furious ; if, 
by misfortune, we had had a gun in the house, 
she would have been quite capable of firing upon 
the Prussians, and so getting us all exterminated ; 
she ran up stairs and down stairs, put her head 
out at the window, and a German having raised 
his head, saying, “ Oh ! what a pretty girl ! ” 
she shouted, Be sure always to come out ten 
against one, or it will be all up with you ! ” 

I was downstairs, and you may imagine my 
alarm. I went up to beg her to be quiet, if she 
did not want the whole village to be destroyed ; 
but she answered rudely, I don’t care — let them 
burn us all out ! I wish I was in the town, and 
not with all these thieves.” 

I went down quickly, not to hear more. 

The rain had begun to fall again, and these 
Prussians kept pouring in, by regiments, by 
squadrons : more than forty thousand men 
covered the plain ; some formed in the fields, in 
the meadows, trampling down the second crop of 
grass and the potatoes — all our hopes were tiiere 
under their feet ! others went on their way ; 


142 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


their wheels sunk into the clay, but they liad 
such excellent horses that all went on under the 
lashes of their long whips, as the Germans use 
them. They climbed up all the slopes ; the 
hedges and young trees were bent and broken 
everywhere. 

When might is right, and you feel yourself the 
weakest, silence is wisdom. 

The report ran that they were going to attack 
Phalsbourg in the afternoon ; and our poor mo- 
biles, and our sixty artillery recruits pressed to 
serve the guns, were about to have a dreadful 
storm falling upon them, as a beginning to their 
experience. Those heaps of shells they were 
hurrying up to Wechem forced from us all cries 
of “ Poor town ! poor townspeople ! poor women ! 
poor children ! ” 

The rain increased, and the river overflowed its 
banks down all the valley from Graufthal to 
Metting. A few officers were walking down the 
street to look for shelter ; I saw a good number 
go into Cousin George’s, principally hussars, and 
at the same moment a gentleman in a round hat, 
black cloak and trousers, stepped before the mill 
and asked me : “ Monsieur le Maire ? ” 

“ I am the mayor.” 

“Very good. I am the army chaplain, and I 
am come to lodge with you.” 

I thought that better than having ten or fifteen 
scoundrels in my house; but he had scarcely 


STOUT OF THE PL^JBI8CITE. 


143 


closed his lips when another came, an officer of 
light horse, who cried : His highness has chosen 
this house to lodge in.” 

Y ery good — what could I reply ? 

A brigadier, who was following this officer, 
springs off his horse, goes under the shed, and 
peeps into the stable. “ Turn out all that,” said 
he. 

“ Turn out my horses, my cattle ? ” I ex- 
claimed. 

“Yes — and quickly too. Ills highness hji» 
twelve horses : he must have room.” 

I was going to answer, but the officer began to 
swear and storm so loudly, without listening to 
anything I could plead, shouting at me that every 
one of my beasts would be driven to be slaughtered 
immediately if I made any difficulty, that with- 
out saying another word, I drove them all out, 
my heart swelling, and my head bowed with de- 
spair. Gredel, watcliing from her window, saw 
this, and coming down, red with anger, said to 
the officer: “ Yon must be a great coward to be- 
have so roughly to an old man who cannot de- 
fend himself.” 

My hair stood on end with horror; but the 
officer vouchsafed not a word, and went, off in- 
stantly. 

Then the chaplain whispered in my ear : “ You 
are going to have the honor of entertaining Mom 


144 


8T0Er OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Beigneur, the reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, 
and you must call him ‘ Your highness.’ ” 

I thought with myself : You, and your high- 
ness, and all the highnesses in the world, I wish 
you were all of you five hundred thousand feet 
in the bowels of the earth. You are a bad lot. 
You came into the world for the misery of man- 
kind. Thieves ! rogues ! ” 

I only thought these things : I would not have 
said them for the world. Several persons had 
been shot in our mountains the last two days — 
fathers of families — and the remembrance of 
these things makes one prudent. 

As I was reflecting upon our misfortunes, his 
highness arrived, with his aides-de-camp and his 
servants. They alighted, entered the house, hung 
up their wet clothes against the wall, and filled 
the kitchen. My wife ran upstairs, I stood in a 
corner behind the stove : we had nothing left to 
call our own. 

This Duke of Saxe was so tall that he could 
scarcely walk upright under my roof. He was a 
liandsome man, covered with gold-lace ornaments ; 
and so were the two great villains who followed 
him — Colonel Egloffstein and Major Baron d’Eu- 
gel. Yes, I could find no fault with them on ac- 
count of their height or their appetites ; nor did 
they seem to mind us in the least. They laughed, 
they chatted, they swung themselves round in my 
room, jingling their swords on the stone floor, on 


8T0BY OF THE PL^lBmGITE. 


145 


the stairs, everywhere, without paying the small 
est attention to me — I seemed to be in iheif 
house. 

From their arrival until their departure, the 
fire never once went out in my kitchen ; my wood 
blazed ; my pans and kettles, my roasting-jack, 
went on with their business ; they twisted the 
necks of my fowls, my ducks, my geese, plucked 
them, and roasted them : they fetched splendid 
pieces of beef, which they minced to make ris- 
soles, and sliced to make what they called “ bif- 
tecks : ” then they opened my drawers and cup- 
boards, spread my table-cloths on my table, rinsed 
out my glasses and my bottles, and fetched my 
wine out of my cellar. 

They waited upon his highness and his officers ; 
the doors and windows stood open, the rain poured 
in ; orderlies came on horseback to receive orders, 
and darted away ; and about five o’clock the guns 
began to thunder and roar at Quatre Yents. The 
bombardment was beginning in that direction ; 
the two bastions of the arsenal and the bakery 
answered. 

That was the bombardment of the 11th, in 
which Thibaut’s house was delivered to the flames. 
It would be long before we should see the last of 
it; but as we had never before heard the like, 
and these rolling thunders filled our valley be- 
tween the woods and the rocks of Biechelberg, 

we trembled. 

7 


146 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Gredel, every time that our heavy guns replied, 
said : Those are ours ; we are not all dead yet 1 
Do you hear that ? ” 

I pushed her out, and his highness asked, 
“ What is that ? ” 

“Nothing,” said I; “it is only my daughter ; 
she is crazy.” 

About a quarter to seven the firing ceased. 

The Baron d’Engel, who had gone out a few 
minutes before, came back to say that a fiag of 
truce had gone to summon the place to surren- 
der; and that on its refusal the bombardment 
would re-open at once. 

There was a short silence. TIis highness was 
eating. 

Suddenly entered a colonel of hussars — a 
hideous being, with a retreating forehead, a 
squint in his eye, and red hair — decorated all 
over with ribbons and crosses, like a North 
American Indian. He \valks in. Salutations, 
hand-shaking all round, and a good deal of 
laughing. They seat themselves again, they 
devour— they swallow everything! And that 
hussar begins telling that he has taken Mac- 
Malion’s tent — a magnificent tent, with mirrors, 
china, ladies’ hats and crinolines. He laughed, 
grinning up to his ears ; and his highness was 
highly delighted, saying that MacMahon would 
have given a representation of his victory to the 
great ladies of Paris. 


STOUT OF THE PLi)BISGITE. I47 

Of course this was an abominable lie ; but the 
Prussians are not afraid of lying. 

That hussar — whose name I cannot remember, 
although I liave often heard it from others — said 
besides, that, after having ridden a couple of 
hours through the forest of Elsashausen, he had 
fallen upon the village of Gundershoffen, where 
a few companies of French infantry had estab- 
lished themselves, and that he had surprised and 
massacred them all to the last man, without the 
loss of a single horseman ! 

Tlien he began to laugli again, saying that in 
war you often might have an agreeable time of 
it, and that this would be among his most cheer- 
ful reminiscences. 

Hearing him from my seat behind the stove, 1 
said: ‘‘And are these men called Christians? 
Why, they are worse than wolves! They would 
drink human blood out of skulls, and boast 
of it 1 ” 

They went on talking in this fashion, when a 
very young officer came to say that the defenders 
of Phalsbourg refused to surrender, and that 
they were going to shell the town, to set fire 
to it. 

I could listen no longer. Gredel and my wife 
went to shut themselves in upstairs, and I went 
out to breathe a different air from these wild 
monsters. 

It was raining still. I wanted fresh air — 1 


148 


STORY OF TEE PL^JBISGITE. 


should have liked to throw myself into the river 
with all my clothes on. 

Fresh regiments were passing. Now it waa 
white cuirassiers ; they extended along the mead- 
ows below Metting; other regiments in dense 
masses advanced on Sarrebourg. Down there 
the bayonets and the helmets sparkled and glis- 
tened in the setting sun, in spite of the torrents 
of rain. It was easy to see that our unfortunate 
army of two hundred thousand men could not 
resist such a deluge. 

But the three hundred thousand other soldiers 
that we should have had, and which we had been 
paying for the last eighteen years, where then 
were they ? They were in the reports presented 
by the Ministers of War to the Legislative As- 
sembly ; and the money which should have paid 
for their complete equipment and their armament, 
that was in London, put down to his Majesty’s 
account : . the honest man^ he had laid up savings. 

All these Germans, encamped as far as the eye 
could see under the rain, were beginning to cut 
down our fruit-trees to warm themselves ; in all 
directions our beautiful apple-trees, our pear-trees, 
still laden witli fruit, came to the ground ; then 
they were stripped bare, chopped to pieces, and 
burnt with the sap in them : the falling rain did 
not prevent the wood from lighting, on account of 
the quantity underneath which the hre dried at 
last. 


STORY OF THE PLtBISCITE. I49 

The whole plain and the table-land above were 
in a blaze with these fires. 

What a loss for tlie country ! 

It had taken fifty-six years, since 1814, togro^v 
these trees ; they were in full bearing ; for fifty 
years our children and grand-children will not see 
their equals around our village; the whole are 
destroyed ! 

With this spectacle before my eyes, indignation 
stifled my voice ; I turned my eyes away, and 
went to Cousin George’s, hoping to hear there a 
few words of encouragement. 

I was right ; the house was full ; Cousin Marie 
Anne, a bold and unceremonious woman, was 
busy cooking for all her lodgers. Amongst the 
number were two of her old customers at the Eue 
Mouffetard ; a Jew, who had come to Paris to 
learn gardening at the Jardin des Plantes, and a 
saddler, both seated near the hearth with an ap- 
pearance of shame and melancholy in their coun- 
tenances. The soldiers, who were crowding even 
the passage, smoked, and examined now and then 
to see if the meat and potatoes looked promising 
in the big copper in the washhouse : there was no 
other in the house large enough to boil such a 
large quantity of provisions. 

Every scidier had an enormous slice of beef, a 
loaf, a portion of wine, and even some ground 
coffee ; some liad under their arms a rope of 


150 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


onions, turnips, a head of cabbage, stolen right 
and left. These were the hussars. 

In the large parlor were the officers, who had 
just returned in succession from their reconnais- 
sances ; as they went up into the room, yon could 
hear the clanking of their swords and their huge 
boots making the staircase shake. 

As I was coming in by the back door, not hav- 
ing been able to make way through the passage, 
George was coming out of the room ; he saw me 
above the helmets of all these people, and cried 
to me : Christian ! stay outside ; I am stifled 
here ! I am cominoj ! ” 

Room was made for him, and we went down 
together into the garden, under the shelter of his 
stack of wood. Then he lighted a pipe, and asked 
me : Well, how are you going on down there ? ” 

I told him all. 

“ I,” said he, “ have already had to receive the 
colonel of the hussars last night. An hour after 
the visit of the Uhlans, there is a tap on the shut- 
ters; I open. Two squadrons of hussars were 
standing there, round the house ; there was no 
way of escape. 

“ ‘ Open ! ’ 

“ I obey. The colonel, a sort of a wolf, whom 
I saw just now going to your house, enters the 
first, pistol in hand ; he examines all round ; 
‘ You are alone?’ 

“ ‘ Yes ; with my wife.’ 


STORY OF THE PLt]BI8GITE |51 

‘‘ ‘ Very well ! ’ 

“ Then he went into the passage, and called an 
aide-de-camp. Three or four soldiers came in ; 
they carry chairs and a table into the kitchen. 
The colonel unfolds a large map upon the floor ; 
he takes off his boots, arid lays himself upon it 
Then he calls : ^ Such a one, are you here ? ’ 

“ ^ Present, colonel.’ 

“ ‘ Then six or seven captains and lieutenants 
enter. 

“ ‘ Such an one, do you see the road to Metting ! ’ 

“ They had all taken small maps out of their 
pockets. 

‘‘ ‘ Yes, colonel.’ 

“ ‘ And from Metting to Sarrebourg ? ’ 

“ ‘ Yes, colonel.’ 

“ ‘ Tell me the names.’ 

‘‘And the ofiicer named the villages, the 
farms, the streams, the rivers, the clumps of 
wood, the curves in the road, and even the inter- 
section of footpaths. 

“ The colonel followed with his nail. 

“ ‘ That will do ! Now go and take twenty 
men and push on as far as St. Jean, by such a 
road. Yon will see ! In case of resistance, you 
will inform me. Come, sharp ! ’ 

“ And the ofiicer goes ofl. 

“ The colonel, still lying upon, his map, calls 
another. 

“ ‘ Present, colonel.’ 


/ 


152 8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

“ ‘ You see Lixbeim ? ’ 

‘ Yes, colonel.’ 

“ And so on. 

‘‘ In half an hour’s time, he had sent off a whole 
6(iuadron on reconnaissances to Sarrebourg, Lix- 
heim, Diemeringen, Liitzelbourg, Fenetrange, 
everywhere in that direction. And when they 
had all started, except twenty or thirty horses 
left behind, he got up from the floor, and said to 
me : ‘ You will give me a good bed, and you will 
prepare breakfast for to-morrow at seven o’clock ; 
all those officers will breakfast with me : they 
will have good appetites. You have poultry and 
bacon. Your wife is a good cook, I know ; and 
you have good wine. I require that everything 
shall be good. You hear me ! ’ 

‘‘ I made no answer, and I went out to tell my 
wife, who had just dressed and was coming down- 
stairs. She had heard what was said, and an- 
swered, ^ Yes, we will obey, since the robbers have 
the power on their side.’ 

“ That knave of a colonel could hear perfectly 
well ; but it was no matter to him : his business 
iVas to get what he wanted. 

My wife took him upstairs and showed him 
his bed. He looked underneath it, into all the 
cupboards, the closet ; then he opened the two 
windows in the corner to see his men below at 
their posts ; and then he lay down. 

‘‘ Until morning all was quiet. 


^TORT OF THE PLiJBISCITE. 


153 


“ Then the others came back. The c Lionel 
listened to them ; he immediately sent some of 
the men who had stayed behind to Dosenheim, 
in the direction of Saverne ; and about a couple 
of hours after these same hussars returned with 
the advanced guard of the Army Coi'ps. The 
colonel had ascertained that all the mountain 
passes were abandoned, and that Lorraine might 
be entered without danger ; that MacMahon and 
De Failly had arrived in the open plain, and that 
there would be no battle in our neighborhood.” 

This is all that Cousin George told me, smoking 
his pipe. 

They had just thrown open the door which 
opens into the garden, to let air into the kitchen, 
and we looked from our retreat upon all those 
Germans with their helmets, their wet clothes, 
their strings of vegetables, and their joints of 
meat under their arms. As fast as it was cooked 
Marie Anne served out the broth, the meat, and 
the vegetables to those who presented themselves 
with their basins ; when they went out, others 
came. Never could fresher meat be seen, and in 
such quantities : one of their pieces would have 
sufficed four or five Frenchmen. 

How sad to think that our own men had 
suffered hunger in our own country, both before 
and after the battle ! How it makes the heart 
sink ! 

Without having said a word, George and I had 
7 * 


154 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


thought the same thing, for all at once he said : 
“ Yes, those people have managed matters better 
than we have. That meat is not from this 
country, since they have not yet requisitioned the 
cattle. It has come by rail ; I saw that this 
morning on the arrival of the gun-carriages. 
They have have also received for the officers 
large puddings, bullocks’ paunches stuffed with 
minced meats, and other eatables that I am not 
acquainted with ; only their bread is black, but 
they seem to enjoy it. Their contractors don’t 
come from the clouds, like ours ; they may not 
set rows of figures quite so straight and even as 
ours ; but their soldiers get meat, bread, wine, 
and coffee, whilst ours are starving, as we our- 
selves have seen. If they had received half the 
rations of these men, the peasants of Niederbronn 
would never have complained of them: they 
could still liave fed the unfortunate men upon 
their retreat.” 

About eleven at night I returned to the mill a 
little calmer. The sentinels knew me already. 
His highness was asleep ; so were also his two 
aides-de-camp and the chaplain : they had taken 
possession of our beds without ceremony. Tlie 
servants had gone to sleep in the barn upon my 
straw ; and as for me, I did not know where to 
go. Still, I was a little more composed in think- 
ing upon what my cousin had told me. If these 
Germans received their provisions by railway, al) 


STORY OF THE PLtBISCITE. 


155 


might be well ; I hoped we might yet keep onr 
cattle, and that then these people would proceed 
farther. With this hope I lay on the flour-sacks 
in the mill and fell fast asleep. 

But next day I saw how completely mistaken 
George was in the matter of provisions. I am 
not speaking only of all that was stolen in our 
village ; every moment people came to me with 
complaints, as if I was responsible for everything. 

‘‘ Monsieur le Maire, they have taken the bacon 
out of my chimney.’^ 

Monsieur le Maire, they have stolen the boots 
from under my bed.” 

“ Monsieur le Maire, they have given my hay 
to their horses. What must I do to feed my 
cow? ” 

And so on. 

The Prussians are the worst thieves in the 
world ; they have no shame : they would take the 
bread out of ^^our very mouth to swallow it. 

These complaints made me so angry that I 
took courage to speak to his highness, who listened 
very kindly, and said it was very unfortunate, 
but that I should remember the French proverb, 
A la guerre, comme a la guerre ; ” and that this 
proverb applied to peasants as well as to soldiers. 

I could have borne all this if the requisitions 
had not begun ; but now the quartermasters were 
making their appearance, to settle with me, as 
they said. 


156 


STORY OF THE PLJ^BISCITE. 


It was of no use to urge that we were poor peo- 
ple, already three-fourths ruined ; they answered : 

Settle your own business. We must have so 
many tons of hay ; so many bushel? of oats, bar- 
ley, flour ; so much of meat, both beef and mutton, 
of good quality ; or else. Monsieur le Maire, we 
will burn down your village.” 

His Highness the Duke of Saxe and his ofii 
cers had just gone to inspect the camp around 
the place ; I was left alone. I wanted to ring 
the church bells to assemble the municipal coun- 
cil, but all bell-ringing was forbidden. Then I 
sent round the rural policeman to summon each 
councillor, one after the other ; but the councillors 
did not stir: they thought that by remaining at 
home they would prevent the Prussians from do- 
ing anything. 

In this extremity I made Martin Kopp publish 
by beat of drum the list of all that the village 
had to supply in provisions and articles of every 
kind, before eleven in the morning; entreating 
all honest people to make haste, if they did not 
want to see their houses in flames from one end 
of the village to the other. 

Scarcely had this notice been given out, when 
everybody made haste to bring all they could. 

The quartermasters made out an inventory; 
they carried away my best cow, and gave me a 
receipt for everything in the name of his Majesty 
the King of Prussia. 


BTORY OF THE PLilBISGITE. 


157 


The general indignation was terrible. 

Such was the robbery and violence, in those 
earlier days, that not so much as a pound of salt 
meat could have been bought by us in the whole 
country; and as for fresh meat, it was no use 
thinking of it. Well, when the Prussians resorted 
to requisition, everything was obtained, by means 
of that threat of fire ! It was known what they 
had done in Alsace, and, of course, they were 
supposed easily capable of beginning again. 

After these requisitions, which might be re- 
garded as a little bouquet for his highness, the 
Prussians raised their camp, announcing to us 
the arrival of new-comers. I also heard M. le 
Baron d’Engel command one of his orderlies to 
order at Sarrebourg six thousand rations of bread 
and of coffee. Then I saw clearly that it was in- 
tended we should feed all these fellows till the 
end of the campaign, and my sad reflections may 
easily be imagined. The German commissariat 
no longer seemed to me so admirable. I could 
see that it was simply organized robbery and pil- 
lage. 

The Duke and his followers had scarcely de- 
parted, when a captain of blue hussars. Monsieur 
Collomb, came to take his place, with six horses, 
and his adjutant, the Count Bernhardy, with three 
more horses. They came from Saverne wet 
through, having spent the night in the open air, 
and this gave them a terrible appetite. 


158 


STOEY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


I explained that everything had been taker 
from ns — that we had nothing left to eat for our- 
selves ; but they would not believe me, and my 
wife was obliged to turn the house topsy-turvy to 
find something for them to eat. 

While eating and drinking enough for four, 
these two gentlemen found time to tell us that 
they had hung eleven peasants of Gunstedt on the 
day of the battle of EeichshofCen ! They also 
told us, what was quite true, that next day pro- 
visions would arrive in our village. Unhappily, 
this long train of provisions, which seemed end- 
less, passed on direct to Sarreboiii’g. 

This was the 12th of August. 

We had, then, this captain, his adjutant, their 
servants, and their horses on our shoulders ; all 
of whom we had to feed to the full until the day 
of their departure. 

The batteries of Phalsbourgliad dismounted the 
German guns at the Quatre Yents. Sick and 
wounded in great numbers had been sent to the 
great military hospital at Saverne ; there were a 
few left in the school-room of Pfalsweyer : this 
annoyed the Prussians. One would have thought 
that it was our duty to let them come and rob, 
pillage, and bombard and burn us, without de- 
fending ourselves ; that we were guilty of crimes 
against them, and that they had rights over us, as 
a nation of valets. 

They actually thought this. 


STOUY OF THE PL^IBISGITE. 


159 


And I have always heard these Germans mak- 
ing such complaints : whether they took us fo?’ 
fools, or were fools themselves, I do not know ex- 
actly which ; but I think there was something ol 
both. 

After the passage of a convoy of provisions, 
which went past us for two hours, came cannon, 
powder-waggons, and shells. Never had our poor 
village heard such a noise ; it was like a torrent 
roaring over the rocks. 

The 11th Corps was passing. There were 
twelve like it, each from eighty to ninety thou- 
sand men. 

We now knew nothing whatever about our 
own troops, nor our relations and friends in the 
town. We were shut up as in an island, in the 
midst of this deluge of Prussians, Bavarians, 
W urtemburgers, Badeners, who streamed through 
in long, interminable columns, and seemed to 
have no end. 

It appears that the requisitions which had been 
made the night before, and that immense convoy 
of provisions, were not enough for their army, so 
they no longer cared to address themselves to 
Monsieur le Maire ; for the ofScers whom we 
lodged having left us early in the morning, all at 
once, about seven o’clock, loud cries arose in the 
village: the Prussians were coming to carry off 
all our remaining cattle at one swoop. But this 
time they had not taken their measures so clev- 


160 


STOl^Y OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 


erly ; they had not guarded the backs of oui 
houses, and every one began to drive his beasts 
into the wood — oxen, cows, goats, all were clam- 
bering up the hill, the women and the girls, the 
old men and children behind. 

Thus they caught scarcely anything. 

From that hour, in spite of their threats, our 
cattle remained in the woods; and it was also 
known that we had francs-tireurs traversing the 
country. Some said that they were Turcos es- 
caped from Woerth, others that they were Frenct 
chasseurs ; but the Prussians no longer ventured 
out of the high roads in small parties ; and this 
is, no doubt, the reason why they did not go to 
find our cattle in the Krapenfelz. 

The next day, the 13th of August, the Prus 
sians were seen in motion in the direction of 
Wechem. A Prussian prince, advanced in years, 
with long nose and chin, and always on horse- 
back, was, at Metting; and the rumor ran that 
the great bombardment of Phalsbourg was going 
to begin, and that more than sixty guns were in 
position above the mill at Wechem: that they 
were throwing up earthworks to cover the guns, 
and that it was going to be very serious. 

That very day, when I was least expecting it, 
the quartermasters came back to requisition meat. 
Put I told them that all the beasts were in the 
wood, through their own fault; that they had 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 1^1 

insisted on taking everything at once, and now 
they would get nothing. 

On hearing these perfectly correct observa-- 
tions of mine, they tried threats* Then I said to 
them : Take me — eat me — I am old and lean. 
You will not get much out of me.” 

However, as they threatened us with fire, I 
gave public notice that the Prussians still claimed, 
in the name of the King of Prussia, ten hundred- 
weight of oats and of barley, three thousand of 
straw, and as much of hay ; and that if the whole 
was not delivered in the market square on the 
stroke of twelve, they would set fire to the place 
without compassion. 

And this time, too, it all came. 

These Germans had found out the way to com- 
pel people to strip themselves even of their very 
shirts ! Fire ! fire ! There lies the true genius 
of the Prussians. Ko one had imagined — 
the power oijire, like these brigands. God alone 
had brought down fire hitherto upon His misera- 
ble creatures to punish heavy crimes, as at Sodom 
and Gomorrah ; they resorted to it to rob and 
plunder us ! It was the punishment of our folly. 

But let us hope that nations will not always be 
so wicked. God will take pity upon us. I do 
not say the God of the Jesuits, nor of the Prus- 
sians, who are Protestant Jesuits ! But He whom 
every man feels in his own heart ; He who draws 
from us the tears of pity and compassion, which 


162 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


we drop upon onr brothers ini justly slain ; He is 
the God of whom I speak, and it is to Him that 
I cry when I say : Look upon our suffenngs ! 
Have we deserved them ? are we accountable for 
our ignorance ? If so, then punish us ! But if 
others are to blame : if they have refused us 
schools; if they have never taught us anything 
that we ought to know ; if they have profited by 
our credulity to impose upon us, oh ! God, pardon 
us, and restore to us our country, our dear 
country, Alsace and Lorraine ! Let us not be 
reduced to receiving blows like the German 
soldiers ! Degrade not our children, our poor 
children, to become servants and beasts of burden 
to the German nobles ! My God ! we have been 
verily guilty in believing our ‘ honest man,’ who 
swore to Thee with full intent to break his oath : 
and his Ministers, who plunged into war ‘ with a 
light heart ! ’ after having promised us peace, and 
who first secured their own safety and well-lined 
pockets ! Nevertheless, we of Alsace and Lor- 
raine, the most faithful children of the Great 
Bevolution, have not deserved that we should be- 
come Germans and Prussians ! Alas 1 what a 
calamity ! . . .” 

I have just been weeping ! After such a fiood 
of miseries and abominable acts my heart over- 
flows ! 

Now 1 pursue my sad story ; and I will try 
never to forget that I am relating a true history, 


STORY CF THE PLtlBISCITE. 


163 


which everybody knows ; which all the world has 
seen. 

That same day, towards evening, several vans 
full of Alsacians, returning from Blamont, passed 
through our village to return home. The Prus- 
sians had obliged them to walk ; their horses 
were nothing but bags of bones ; and the people, 
emaciated, yellow-looking, had been so battered 
with blows, so famished with hunger, that they 
staggered at every step. 

They had not received so much as a ration of 
bread on the whole journey; the Germans de- 
voured everything ! They would have seen our 
poor fellows — whom they liad compelled to bear 
the burden of their baggage — they would have 
seen them drop with weariness and starvation 
before their eyes, without giving them a drop 
of water ! But for our unhappy invaded Lorraine 
brothers, who fed them out of their own poverty, 
they would have perished, every one. 

This is the truth ! We experienced it ourselves 
not long afterwards; for the same fate was re- 
served to us. 

After the passage of these miserable creatures, 
to whom I gave a little bread — though we had 
scarcely any left, since the Germans, only two 
days before, had robbed us of twenty-seven loaves 
just fresh out of the oven — after this melancholy 
sight, we saw coming with a terrible clatter and 
ringing of sabres, one after the other, three Prus' 


164 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


siau aides-de-camp, who T^ere announced to ns; 
the first as a colonel, the second a general, and 
the third I cannot remember what — a duke, a 
prince, something of that kind ! 

It was the colonel whom I had the honor, as 
they called it, to entertain. Colonel Waller, of tlicj 
10th regiment of Silesian grenadiers; and then 
followed the general, who did me the honor to 
sup at my house at my expense. This man’s 
name was Macha-Cowsky. They had the pleas- 
ure of informing us that that very night Phals- 
bourg was going to be thoroughly shelled. Those- 
gentlemen are full of the greatest delicacy ; they 
imagined that this good news was going to de- 
light me, my wife, and my daughter ! 

The flag of the Silesian grenadiers was brought 
into the colonel’s apartment. This regiment was 
arriving from the Austrian frontier; it had 
waited for the declaration of neutrality of the 
good Catholics down there, to come by rail and 
unite with the twelve army corps which were in- 
vading us with so much glory. 

I learned this by overhearing their conversation. 

That was a very bad night for us. The officers 
wanted to be waited on separately, one after the 
other ; my poor wife was obliged to cook for 
them, to bring them plates — in a word, to be their 
servant; and Gredel, in spite of her indignation, 
was helping her mother, pale with passion and 
biting her lips to keep it down. 


STORY OF THE RLkBISGITE. 


165 


The general and the colonel took their supper 
at nine, the aide-de-camp at ten ; and so forth all 
the night through, without giving a thouglit to 
the exhaustion and trouble of the poor women. 

They were laughing a good deal over what 
Monsieur le Cure of Wilsberg had said tlie night 
before ; who had told them that the misfortunes 
of Napoleon had arisen from his withdrawing his 
troops from Rome, and that “ whoever ate of the 
Pope would burst asunder! ” 

They enjoyed these words and had great fun 
over them. 

I, in my corner, came to the conclusion that 
from a fool you must expect nothing but folly. 

At last I dropped off to sleep, with my liead 
upon my knees; but scarcely had daylight ap- 
peared when the house was filled with the ring- 
ing of spurs and steel scabbards, and above all 
rose the loud voice of the aide-de-camp : Where 
are you, you scoundrel ! will you come, ass! fool! 
brute ! come this way, will you ! ’’ 

Tliis is the way he called his servant ! This is 
exactly the way they treat their soldiers, who lis- 
ten to them gravely, the hand raised beside tne 
ear, eyes looking right before them, without ut- 
tering a sound ! lie is lucky, too, if the speech 
finishes without a smart box on the ears or a kick 
in the rear ! This is what they hope to see us 
coming to some day ; this is what they call 


166 


STORY OF THE PLJUBTSGITE. 


“instructing ns in the noble virtues of the Ger 
mans.” 

The colonel breakfasted at about live in the 
morning ; a company came for the flag, and the 
regiments marched off. We were rejoicing, when 
about seven, the bombardment opened with an 
awful ci’ashiug noise. Sixty guns at Wechem 
were firing at the same time. 

The town replied; but at half-past eight a 
heavy cloud of smoko was already overhanging 
Phalsbourg ; the heavy guns of the fortress only 
replied with the more spirit ; the shells whizzed, 
the bombs burst upon the hill-side, and the thun- 
ders of the bastion of Wilsenberg roared and 
rolled in echoing claps to the remotest ends of 
Alsace. 

My wife and Gredel, seated opposite each other, 
looked silently in each other’s faces ; I paced up 
and down with my head bowed, thinking of 
Jacob, and of all those good people who at that 
moment had before their eyes the spectacle of 
their burning houses and furniture, the fruit of 
their fifty years of labor. 

At ten I came out ; the dense column of smoke 
had spread wider and wider ; it extended toward 
the hospital and the church ; it seemed like a 
vast black flag w'hich drooped low from time to 
time and rose again to meet the clouds. 

A squadron of cuirassiers, and behind them 
another of hussars, dashed past up the face of 


STORY OF THE PLtlBISGITE. 


167 


the hill ; but they came down again with light- 
ning speed in the direction of Metting, where the 
Prussian prince had his headquarters. 

The shells of the sixty guns went on their way 
rising througli the air and falling into the smoke; 
the bombs and the shells from the town dropped 
behind the Prussian batteries, and exploded in 
the fields. 

The echoes could be heard from the Ltitzelberg, 
thundering from one moment to another. The 
old castle down below must have shaken and 
trembled upon its rock. 

In the midst of all this terrible din the pillage 
was beginning afresh; bands of robbers were 
breaking from their ranks, and whilst the officers 
were admiring the burning town through their 
field-glasses, they were running from house to 
house, pointing their bayonets at the women and 
demanding eau-de-vie, butter, eggs, cheese, any- 
thing that they expected to find according to the 
inspector’s reports. If you kept bees, they must 
have honey ; if you kept poultry, it must be 
fowls or eggs. And these brigands, in bands of 
five or six, rummaged and plundered everywhere. 
They committed other horrible deeds, which it is 
not fit even to mention. 

These are your good old German manners ! 

And they reproach us with our T urcos ; but the 
Turcos are saints compared with these filthy vaga 
bonds, who are still polluting our hospitals. 


168 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Coming nearer to us, these robbers found a 
man awaiting them firmly at bis door ; I bad 
grasped a pitchfork, Gredel stood behind witli an 
axe. Then, having, I suppose, no written order 
to rob, and fearful lest my neighbors should come 
to my side, they sneaked away farther. 

But about eleven, a lieutenant, with a canteen 
woman, came to order me to give up to him a few 
pints of wine; saying that he would pay me 
every sou, by and by. This was a polite way of 
robbing ; for who would be such a fool as to re- 
fuse credit to a man who has you by the throat. 
I took them down to tlie cellar, the woman filled 
her two little barrels, and tlien they departed. 

About one the colonel returned at the head of 
his i-egiment, and advanced as far as the door 
without alighting from his horse, asking for a 
glass of wine and a piece of bread, wliich my 
wife presented him. He could not stop another 
moment. 

Scarcely had he left us, when again the can- 
teen woman’s barrels had to be replenished. This 
time it was an ensign, who swore that the debt 
should be fully paid that very night. He emptied 
my cask, and went ofi^ with a conceited strut. 

Whilst all this was going on, the cannon were 
thundering, the smoke rising higher and thicker. 
The bombs from Phalsbourg burst on the plateau 
of Berlingen. At half-past fom* half the town 
was blazing; at five the flames seemed spreading 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


109 


farther yet ; and the church steeple, which was 
built of stone, seemed still to be standing erect, 
but as hollow as a cage ; the bells had melted, the 
solid beams and the roof fallen in; from a dis- 
tance of five miles you could see right through 
it. About ten, the people in our village, stand- 
ing before their houses with clasped hands, sud- 
denly saw the fiames pierce to an immense height 
through the dense smoke into the sky. 

The cannon ceased to roar. A fiag of truce 
had just gone forward once more to summon the 
place to surrender. But our lads are not of the 
sort who give themselves up ; nor the people of 
Phalsbourg either : on the contrary, the more the 
fire consumed, the less they had to lose ; and for- 
tunately, the biscuit and the flour which had been 
intended for Metz, since the battle of Beichshoffen 
had remained at the storehouses, so that tiiere were 
provisions enough for a long while. Ojily meat 
and salt were failing : as if people with any sense 
ought not to have a stock of salt in every forti- 
fied town, kept safe in cellars, enough to last ten 
years. Salt is not expensive; it never spoils; at 
the end of a century it is found as good as at first. 
But our commissaries of stores are so perfect ! A 
poor miller could not presume to offer this simple 
piece of advice. Yet the want of salt was the 
cause of the worst sufferings of the inhalfitanta 
during the last two months of the siege. 

8 


170 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Tke flag of truce returned at night, and we 
learned that there was no surrender. 

Then a few more shells were fired, which killed 
some of those who had already left the shelter 
of the casemates — some women, and other poor 
creatures. At last the firing ceased on both sides. 
It was about nine. The profound silence after 
all this uproar seemed strange, I was standing 
at my own door looking round, when suddenly, 
in the dark street, my cousin appeared. 

“ Is anybody there ? ” 

And we entered the room, where were Gredel 
and my wife. 

“ Well,” said he, laughing and winking, “ our 
boys won’t give in. The commanding oflicer is a 
brave fellow.” 

Yes,” said my wife, but what has become of 
Jacob ? ” 

Pooh ! ” said George, “ he is perfectly well. 
I have seen very different bombardments from 
these ; at Saint Jean d’Ulloa they fired upon us 
with shells of a hundred-and-twenty pounds; 
these are only sixes and twelves. Well, after all 
when a man has seen his thirtieth or fortieth 
year, it is a good deal to say. Don’t be uneasy ; 
I assure you that your boy is quite well : besides, 
are not the rampai ts the best place ? ” 

Then he sat down and lighted his pipe. The 
blazing town sent out such a glow of light that 


STORY OF THE RLEB18CTTE. 171 

tLe shadows of our casemeuts were quivering on 
the illumined bed-curtains. 

It is burning fiercely,” said my cousin. 
“ How hot they must be down there ! But how 
unfortunate that the Archeviller tunnel should 
not have been blown up ! and that the orders of 
his Majesty did not arrive to apply the match to 
the train that was ready laid. What a misfortune 
for France to have such an incompetent man at 
her head! The town holds out; if the tunnel 
had only been blown up, the Germans would 
have been obliged to take the town ! The bom- 
bardment makes no impression ; they would have 
been obliged to proceed by regular approaches, 
by digging trenches, and then make two or three 
assaults. This would have detained them a fort- 
night, three weeks, or a month ; and during this 
interval, the country might have taken breath. 
I know that the Prussians have a road by Forbach 
and Sarre Union to hold the railway at Haney ; 
but Toul is there ! And then there is a wide 
difference between marching on foot one day’s 
march, and then another day’s maren with guns, 
and ammunition, and all sorts of provisions drag- 
ging after you, convoys to be escorted and 
watched for fear of sudden attacks ; and holding 
a perfect railroad ’which brings everything 
quietly under your hands 1 Yes, it is indeed a 
misfortune to be ruled by an idiot, who has peo- 
ple around him declaring he is an eagle.” 


172 


8T0RT OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


Thus spoke niy cousin ; and my wife informed 
him that it would please her much better to see 
the Germans pass by than to have to entertain 
them. 

“You speak just like a woman,” answered 
George. “ No doubt we are suffering losses ; but 
do you suppose that France will not indemnify 
us? Do you think we shall always be having 
idiots and sycophants for our deputies ? If we 
are not paid for this, who, in future, will think 
of defending his country? We should all open 
our doors to the enemy : this would be the de- 
struction of France. Get these notions out of 
your head, Catherine, and be sure that the inter- 
est of the individual is identical with that of the 
nation. Ah ! if that tunnel had been blown up 
the Germans would have been in a very different 
position ! ” 

Thereupon, my cousin fixed his eyes upon that 
unhappy town, which resembled a sea of fire; 
out of two hundred houses, fifty-two, besides the 
church, were a prey to the flames. No noise 
could be heard on account of the distance, but 
sometimes a red glare shot even to us, and the 
moon, sailing through the clouds on our left 
peacefully went on her way as she has done since 
the beginning of the world. All the hateful 
passions, all the fearful crimes of men never dis- 
turb the stars of heaven in their silent paths i 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. I73 

George, having gazed with teeth set and lips 
compressed, left us without another word. 

We sat up all that night. You may be sure 
that no one slept in the whole village ; for every 
one had there a son, a brother, or a friend. 

The next day, the 15th of August, when the 
morning mists had cleared away, the smoke was 
rising still, but it was not so thick. Then the 
main body of the German army proceeded on 
their march to Nancy ; and the lieutenant, who, 
the night before, had promised to pay me for my 
wine, had stepped out left foot foremost, having 
forgotten to say good-by to me. If the rest of 
the German officers are at all like that fellow, I 
would strongly recommend no one ever to trust 
them even with a single Hard on their mere 
word. 

After the departure of this second army, came 
the 6tli corps; the next day, Sunday, and the 
day after there passed cavalry regiments : chas- 
seurs, lancers, hussars, brown, green, and black, 
without number. They all marched past us 
dcwn our valley, and their faces were towards 
the interior of France. Yet there remained a 
force of infantry and artillery around Phalsboiirg, 
at Wechem, Wilsberg, at Biechelberg, the Quatre 
Vents, the Baraques, etc. The rumor ran that 
they were to be reinforced with heavier artillery, 
to lay regular siege to the place ; but what they 
liad was just sufficient to secui’c the railroad, the 


174 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Ar^heviller tiimiel, and in our direction the pass 
of the Graufthal. 

The provisions, the stores, the spare horses, and 
the infantry followed the valley of Liitzelbourg ; 
their cavalry were in part following after ours. 

Since that time we have seen no bombard- 
ments, except on a small scale. Sorties might 
easily have been made by the townspeople, for 
all right-minded people would rather have given 
their cattle to the town than see them recpiisi- 
tioned by the Prussians. 

Yes, indeed, it was those requisitions which 
tormented us tlie most. Oh, these requisitions ! 
The seven or eight thousand men who were block- 
ading the town lived at our expense, and denied 
themselves nothing. 

But a little later, during the blockade of Metz, 
we were to experience worse miseries yet. 


STORY OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 


175 


CHAPTEE YIII. 

A FEW days after the passage of the last squad 
rons of hussars, we learned that the Phalsbour- 
gere had made a sortie to carry off cattle from the 
Biechelberg. That night we might have captured 
the whole of the garrison of our village ; but the 
officer in command of the party was a poor creat- 
ure. Instead of approaching in silence, he had 
ordered guns to be fired at two hundred paces 
from the enemy’s advanced posts, to frighten the 
Prussians ! But they, in great alarm, had sprung 
out of their beds, where they lay fast asleep, and 
had all decamped, firing back at our men ; and 
the peasants lost no time in driving their cattle 
into the woods. 

From this you may see what notions our offi- 
cers had about war. 

‘‘The men of 1814,” said our old forester, 
Martin Eopp, “ set to work in a different way ; 
they were sure to fetch back bullocks, cows, and 
prisoners into the town.” 

When Cousin George was spoken to of these 
matters, he shrugged his shoulders and made no 
remark. 


176 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Worse than all, the Prussians made fun of na 
unlucky villagers of Pothalp, calling us “ la 
grande nation ! ” But was it our fault if our 
officers, who had almost all been brought up by 
the Jesuits, knew nothing of their profession % 
If our lads had been drilled, if every man had 
been compelled to serve, as they are in Germany ; 
and if every man had been given the post for 
which he was best fitted, according to his ac- 
quirements and his spirit, I don’t think the Prus- 
sians would have got so much fun out of 
graiide nation^ 

This was the only sortie attempted during the 
siege. The commander, Talliant, wdio had plenty 
of sense, was quite aware that with officers of 
this stamp, and soldiers who knew nothing of 
drill, it was better to keep behind the ramparts 
and try to live without meat. 

About the same time the officer in command 
of the post of the Land\vehr at Wechem, the 
greatest drunkard and the worst bully we have 
ever seen in our part of the country, came to pay 
me his first visit, along with fifteen men with 
fixed bayonets. 

His object was to requisition in our village 
three hundred loaves of bread, some hay, straw, 
and oats in proportion. 

In the first place he walked into iiiy mill, cry 
ing, ‘‘ Hallo ! good-morning, M. le Maire ! ” 


8 T 0 RT OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 177 

Seeing those bayonets at, my door, a fidgety feel- 
ing came over me. 

“ I am come to bring yon a proclamation from 
his Majesty the King of Prussia. Read that I” 

And I read the following proclamation : 

We, William, King of Prussia, make known 
to the inhabitants of the French territory that tlie 
Emperor Kapoleon III., having attacked the Ger- 
man nation by sea and by land, whose desire was 
and is to live at peace with France, has compelled 
us to assume the command of our armies, and, 
consequently upon the events of war, to cross the 
French frontier ; but "that I make war upon sol- 
diers and not upon French citizens, who shall 
continue to enjoy perfect security, both as regards 
their persons and their property, as long as they 
shall not themselves compel me, by hostile meas- 
ures against the German troops, to withdraw my 
protection from them.” 

‘‘ You will post up this proclamation,” said the 
lieutenant to me, “ upon your door, upon that of 
the mayoralty-office, and upon the church-door. 
Well ! are you glad ? ” 

“ Of course,” said I. 

“ Then,” he replied, we are good friends ; and 
good friends must help one another. Come, my 
boys,” ho cried to his soldiers, with a loud laugh, 
“ come on — let ns all go in. Here you may fancy 
yourselves at home. You will be refused noth- 
ing. Come in ! ” 

8 * 


178 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

And these robbei:s first entered the mill ; then 
they passed on into tlie kitchen ; from the kitchen 
into the house, and then they went down into the 
cellar 

My wife and Gredel had sought safety iv 
fiight. 

Then commenced a regular organized pillage. 
They cleared out my chimney of its last hams 
and flitches of bacon, they broke in my last bar- 
rel of wine ; they opened my wardrobe— scenting 
down to the very bottom like a pack of hounds. 
I saw one of these soldiers lay hands even upon 
the candle out of the candlestick and stuff it into 
his boot. 

One of my lambs having begun to bleat : 

Hallo P’ cried the lieutenant, “Sheep! we 
want mutton.” 

And the infamous rascals went off to the stable 
to seize upon my sheep. 

When there was nothing left to rob, this gallant 
officer handed me the list of regular requisitions, 
saying, “We require these articles. You will 
bring the whole of them this very evening to We- 
chem, or we shall be obliged to repeat our visit : 
you comprehend. Monsieur le Maire ? And, es 
peciall}’', do not forget the proclamations, his 
Majesty’s proclamations; that is of the first im- 
portance: it was our principal object in coming. 
Now, Monsieur le Maire, au revoir, au revoir I 

The abominable brute held out his hand to me 


STOUT OF THE PLi^mSGllE. 


179 


in its coarse leather glove — I turned my back in> 
on him ; he pretended not to see it, and marched 
off in the midst of his soldiers, all loaded like 
pack‘horses, laughing, munching, tippling; for 
every man had filled his tin fiask and stuffed his 
canvas bag full. 

Farther on they visited several of the other 
principal houses — ^my cousin’s, the cure Daniel’s. 
They were so loaded with plunder that, after 
their last visit, they halted to lay under requisi- 
tion a horse and cart, which seemed to them 
handier than carrying all that they had stolen. 

War is a famous school for thieves and brig- 
ands ; by the end of twenty years mankind would 
be a vast pack of villains. 

Pei*haps this may yet be our fate ; for I remem- 
ber that the old school- master at Bouxviller told 
us that there had been once in ancient times 
populous nations, richer than we are, who might 
have prospered for thousands of years by means 
of commerce and industry, but who had been so 
madly bent upon their own extermin'ation by 
means of war, that their country became at Last 
sandy wastes, where not a blade of grass grows 
now and nothing is found but scattered rocks. 

This is our impending fate ; and I fear I may 
see it before I die, if such men as Bismarck, Bon- 
aparte, William, De Moltke, and all those creat- 
ures of blood and rapine do net swiftly meet 
with tlieir deserved retribution. 


180 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


The pillngin^ lieutenant that I told you of just 
now was made a captain at the end of the war — 
the reward of his merit. I cannot just now 
recollect his name ; but when I mention that he 
used to roam from village to village, from one 
publicdiouse to another, soaking in, like a sand- 
bank, wine', beer, and ardent spirits; that he 
bellowed out songs like a bull-calf ; that he used 
in a maudlin way to prate about little birds ; 
that he levied requisitions at random ; and that 
he used to return to his quarters about one, or 
two, or three o’clock in the morning, so intoxicat- 
ed that it was incredible that a human being in 
such a state could keep his seat on horseback, and 
yet was ready to begin again next morning : yes, 
I need but mention these circumstances, and 
everybody will recognize in a minute the big Ger- 
man brute ! 

The other Landwehi- officers, in command at 
Wilsberg, Quatre Vents, Mittelbroim, and else- 
where, were scarcely better. After the departure 
of tlie princes, the dukes, and the barons, these 
men looked upon themselves as the lords of the 
land. Everyday we used to hear of fresh crimes 
committed by them upon poor defenceless creat- 
ures. One da}-, at Mittelbronn, they shot a poor 
idiot who had been running barefoot in the woods 
for ten } ears, hurting nobody ; the next day, at 
Wilsberg, they stripped naked a poor boy who 
unfortunately had come too near their batteries, 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


181 


and tlie officer liimself, with liis lieavy boots 
kicked him till the blood ran ; and then, at the 
Qnatre Yents, they pnlled out of the cellar two 
feeble old men, and exposed them two days and 
nights to the rain and the cold, threatening to 
kill them if they did but stir ; they pillaged oxen, 
sheepj hay, straw, smashed furniture, burst in 
windows, day after day, for the mere pleasure of 
killing and destroying. 

Sometimes they found amusement in threat- 
ening to make the cures and the maires drive the 
cattle which they themselves had lifted. And 
as the Germans enjoy the reputation with us of 
being very learned, I feel bound to declare that 
I have never seen one, whether officer or private, 
with a book in his hand. 

Cousin George said, with good reason, that all 
their learning bears upon their military profes- 
sion : the spy system, and the study of maps for 
officers, and discipline under corporal punishment 
for the rest. The only clear notion they have in 
their heads is that they must obey their chiefs and 
calmly receive slaps in the face. 

The young men employed in trade are great 
travellers. They get information in other coun- 
tries; they aie sly ; they never answer questions ; 
they are good servants, and cheap ; but at the 
first signal, back they go to get kicked ; and they 
think nothing of shooting their old shopmatof, 


182 


STORY OF THE PL^BISGITE. 


and those whose bread they have been eating for 
years. 

In their country some are born to slap, others to 
be slapped. They regard this as a law of nature ; 
a man is honorable or not according as he may be 
the son of a nobleman or a tradesman, a baron or 
a workman. With them, the less honorable the 
man the better the soldier; he is only expected to 
obey, to black boots, and to rub down the officer’s 
horse when he is. ordered : a banker’s, or a rich 
citizen’s sou obeys just like any one else ! Hence 
there is no doubt that their armies are well disci- 
plined. George said that their superior officers 
handled a hundred thousand men with greater 
ease than ours could manage ten thousand, and 
tliat, for that purpose, less talent was needed. 
No doubt ! If I, who am only a miller, had by 
chance been born King of Prussia, I should lead 
them all by the bridle, like my horses, and better. 
I should simply be careful, on the eve of any 
difficult enterprise, to consult two or three clever 
fellows who should clear up my ideas for me, and 
engage in my service highly educated young men 
to look after afPairs. Then the machine would 
act of itself, just like my mill, where the cogs? 
work into each other without troubling me. The 
machinery does everything ; genius, good sense, 
and good feeling are not wanted. 

These ideas have come into my mind, thinking 
upon what I have observed since the opening of 


STOHr OF THE PlJjBTSGlTE. 


183 


this campaign ; and this is why I say we must 
have discipline to play this game over again; 
only, as the French possess the sentiment of 
honor, they must be made to understand that he 
(vho has no discipline is wanting in honor; and 
betrays his country. Then, without kicking and 
slapping, we shall obtain discipline ; we may han- 
dle vast masses, and shall beat the Germans, as 
we have done hundreds of times before. 

These things should be taught in every school, 
and the schools should be numberless; at the 
very head of the catechism should be written: 
“ The first virtue of the citizen under arms is 
obedience ; the man who disobeys is a coward, a 
traitor to the Kepublic.” 

These were my thoughts ; and now I continue 
my story. 

After the passage of the German armies, our 
unhappy country was, as it were, walled round 
with a rampart of silence ; for all the men who 
were blockading Phalsbourg, and the few detach- 
ments which were still passing with provisions, 
stores, flocks of sheep, and herds of oxen through 
the valley, were under orders not to speak to us, 
but leave us to the influence of fear. We re- 
ceived no more newspapers, no more letters, i or 
the least fragment of intelligence from the im 
terior. We could hear the bombardment of 
Strasbourg when the wind blew from the Fhine. 
All was in flames down there; but, as no one 


184 8T0BT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

dared to come and go, on account of the enemy’s 
posts placed at every point, nothing was known. 
Melancholy and grief were killing us. No one 
worked. What was the use of working, when 
the .bravest, the most industrious, the most thrifty 
saw the fruit of their labor devoured by innu- 
merable brigands ? Men almost regretted having 
done their duty by their children, in depriving 
themselves of necessaries, to feed in the end 
such base wretches as these. They would say: 

Is there any justice left in the world ? Are 
not upright men, tender mothers of families, and 
dutiful children, fools ? Would it not be better 
to become thieves and rogues at once ? Do 
not all the rewards fall to the brutish ? Are 
not those hypocrites who preach religion and 
mercy ? Our only duty is to become the strong- 
est. Well, let us be the strongest; let us pass 
over the bodies of our fellow-creatures, who have 
done us no harm ; let us spy, cheat, and pillage : 
if we are the strongest, we shall be in the right.” 

Here is the list of the requisitions, made in the 
poorest cabins, for every Prussian who lodged 
there : j udge what must have been our misery. 

“ For every man lodging with you, ^mu will 
have to furnish daily 750 grammes of bread, 500 
grammes of meat, 250 grammes of coffee, GO 
grammes of tobacco, or five cigars, a half lit]*e of 
wine, or a litre of beer, or a tenth part of a litre 
of eau-de-vie. Besides, for every horse, twelve 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


185 


kilos of oats, five kilos of liay, and two and a 
half kilos of straw.” '''* 

Every one will say, ‘‘How was it possible for 
niifortnnate peasants to supply all that? It is 
impossible.” 

Well, no. The Prussians did get it, in this 
wise : They made excursions to the very farthest 
farms, they carried off everything, hay, straw ; 
elsewhere they carried off the cattle ; elsewhere, 
corn; elsewhere, again, wine, eau-de-vie, beer; 
elsewhere they demanded contributions in money. 
Every man gave up what he had to give, so that by 
the end of the campaign there was nothing left. 

Yes, indeed ! We were comfortable before 
this war; we were rich without knowing it. 
Never had I supposed that we had in our country 
such quantities of hay, so many head of cattle. 

It is true that, at the last, they gave us bonds ; 
but not until three-quarters and more of our pro- 
visions had been consumed. And now they make 
a pretence of indemnifying us ; but in thirty 
years, supposing there is peace — in thirty years 
our village will not possess what it had last year. 

Ah ! vote, vote in plebiscites, you poor, misera- 
ble peasants ! Yote for bonds for hay, straw, and 
meat, milliards and provinces for the Prussians ! 
Our honest man promises peace; he who hag 
broken his oath — trust in his word ! 

* Bread, about 2 lbs.; meat, 1^ lbs. ; coffee, 8 oz.; tobacco, 
2 oz. ; wine. | pint ; or beer, pints ; oats, 26 lbs. etc. 


180 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Whenever 1 think on these things, my hair 
stands on end. And those who voted against the 
Plebiscite, they have had to pay just as dearly. 
How bitterly they must feel our folly ; and how 
anxious they must be to educate us ! 

Imagine the condition of my wife and of my 
daughter seeing us so denuded ! for women cleave 
to their savings much more closely than men ; 
and then mother was only thinking of Jacob, and 
Gredel of her Jean Baptiste. 

Cousin George Imew this. He tried several 
times to get news of the town. A few Turcos, 
who had escaped from the carnage of Froesch- 
willer, had remained in town, and every day a 
few got through the posterns to have a shot at 
the Germans. On the other hand, as the attack 
on the place had been sudden and unforeseen, 
there had been no time to throw down the trees, 
the hedges, the cottages, and the tombstones 
in the cemetery. So this work began afresh : 
everything within cannon-shot was razed without 
mercy. 

George tried to reach these men, but the ene- 
my’s posts were still too close. At last he got 
news, but in a way which can scarcely be told — 
by an abandoned womai i, who was allowed in the 
German lines. This creditable person told us 
that Jacob was well; and, no doubt, she alsc 
brought some kind of good news to Gredel, who 
from that moment was another woman. The 


STORY OF THE PL^IBISGITE. 


187 


very next day she began to talk to ns about her 
marriage-portion, and insisted upon knowing 
where we had hidden it. I told her that it was 
i n the wood, at the foot of a tree. Then she was 
iji alarm lest the Prussians should have discov- 
3red it, for they searched everywhere ; they had 
exact inventories of what was owned by every, 
householder. They had gone even to the very 
end of our cellars to discover choice wines : for 
instance, at Mathis’, at the saw-mills, and at 
Frantz Sepel’s, at Metting. Nothing could escape 
them, having had for years our own German 
servants to give them every information, who 
privately kept an account of our cattle, hay, 
corn, wine, and everything every house could 
supply. These Germans are the most perfect 
spies in the world ; they come into the world to 
spy, as birds do to thieve: it is part of their 
nature. Let the Americans and all the people 
who are kind enough to receive them think of 
this. Their imprudence may some day cost them 
dearly. I am not inventing. I am not saying a 
word too much. We are an example. Let the 
world profit by it. 

So Gr^del feared for our hoard. I told her I 
had been to see, and that nothing in the neighboj*' 
hood had been disturbed. 

But, after having quieted her, I myself had a 
great fright. 

One Sunday evening, about thirty Prussians, 


188 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


commanded bj their famous lieutenant, came to 
the mill, striking the floor with the butt-ends of 
their muskets, and shouting that tliey must have 
wine and eau-de-vie. 

I gave them the keys of the cellar. 

“ That is not what I want,” said the lieutenant. 

You took sixteen hundred livres at Saverne last 
month ; where are they ? ” 

Then I saw that I had been denounced. It 
was Placiard, or some of that rabble ; for denun- 
ciations were beginning. All who have since de- 
clared for the Germans were already beginning 
this business. I could not deny it, and I said : 

It is true. As I was owing money at Phals- 
bourg, I paid what I owed, and I placed the rest 
in safety under the care of lawyer Fingado.” 

“ Where is that lawyer % ” 

“In the town guarded by the sixty big guns 
that you know of.” 

Then the lieutenant paced up and down, growl- 
ing, “ You are an old fox. I don’t believe you. 
You have hid 3^our money somewhere. You 
shall send in j^our contribution in money.” 

“I will furnish, like others, my contribution 
for six men with what I have got. Here are my 
hay, my wheat, my straw, my flour. Whatever 
is left you may have ; when there is nothing left, 
you may seek elsewhere. You may kill the peo- 
ple ; you may burn towns and villages ; but you 
cannot take money from those who have none.” 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


189 


He stared at me, and one of the soldiers, mad 
with rage, seized me by the collar, roaring, 
“ Show ns your hoard, old rascal I ’’ 

Several others were pushing me out of doors ; 
my wife came crying and sobbing; but Gredel 
darted in, armed with a hatchet, crying to these 
robbers, “ Pack of cowards I You have no cour* 
age— you are all like Schinderhannes ! ” 

She was going to fall upon them ; but I bade 
her : ‘‘ Gredel, go in again.” 

At the same time I threw open my waistcoat, 
and told the brute who was pointing his baj^onet 
at rny breast : “Now thrust, wretch ; let it be 
over ! ” 

It seems that there was something at that mo- 
ment in my attitude which awed tliein ; for the 
lieutenant, who did nothing but scour the coun- 
try with his band, exclaimed : “ Come, let us 
leave monsieur le maire alone. AVhen we have 
taken the place, we shall hnd his money at the 
lawyer’s. Come, my lads, come on ; let us go 
and look elsewhere. His Majesty wants crown- 
pieces : we will find them. Good-by, Monsieur 
le Maire. Let ns bear no malice.” 

He was laughing ; but 1 was as pale as death, 
and went in trembling. 

I fell ill. 

Maii}^ people in the country were suffering 
from dysentery, which we owe again to these gor- 
mandizers, for they devoured everything ; honey 


190 


STOUT OF Tim PL^msCITE. 


batter, cheese, green fruit, beef, mutton, every 
thing was ingulfed anyhow down their huge 
swallows. At Pfalsweyer they had even swal- 
lowed vinegar for wine. I cannot tell what they 
ate at home, but the voracity of these people 
would make you suppose that at home they knev' 
no food but potatoes and cold water. 

In their sanitary regulations there was plentj 
of room for improvement; health and decency 
were alike disregarded. 

That year the crows came early ; they swept 
down to earth in great clouds. But for this help, 
a plague would have fallen upon us. 

I cannot relate all the other torments these 
Prussians inflicted upon us ; such as compelling 
us to cut down wood for them in the forest, to 
split it, to pile it up in front of their advanced 
posts ; threatening the peasants with having to go 
to the front and dig in the trenches. On account 
of this, whole villages fled without a minute’s 
warning, and the Landwehr took the opportunity 
to pillage the houses without resistance. Worse 
than all, they polluted and desecrated the churches 
— to the great distress of all right-minded people, 
whether Catholics, Protestants, or Jews. This 
proved that these felloAVS respected nothing ; that 
they took a pleasure in humiliating the souls of 
men in their tenderest and holiest feelings ; for 
even with ungodly men a church, a temple, a 
synagogue are venerable places. There oui 


STORY OF THE PLiSBISGITE. 


191 


mothers carried ns to receive the blessing of God 
there we called God to witness onr loye for hei 
with whom we had chosen to travel together the 
journey of life ; thither we bore father and mother 
to commend their souls to the mercy of God after 
they had ceased to sulfer in this world. 

, These wretched men dared do this ; therefore 
shall they be execrated from generation to gene- 
ration, and our hatred shall be inextinguishable ! 

Whilst all these miseries were overwhelming 
us, rumors of all sorts ran througli the country. 
One day Cousin George came to tell us that he 
had heard from an innkeeper from Sarrebourg 
that a great battle had been fought near Metz ; 
tliat we might have been victorious, but tliat the 
Emperor, not knowing wiiere to find his proper 
place, got in everybody’s w^ay ; that he w^ould first 
fly to the right, then to the left, carrying with him 
his escort of three or four thousand men, to guard 
his person and his ammunition-\vaggons ; that it 
had been found absolutely necessary to declare 
his command vacant, and to send him to Yerdun 
to get rid of him ; for he durst not return to 
Paris, wdiere indignation against his dynasty 
broke out louder and louder. 

“Now,” said my cousin, “Bazaine is at the 
head of our best army. It is a sad thing to be 
obliged to intrust tlie destinies of our countiT tc 
the liands of the man who made himself too well 
known in Mexico j whilst the Minister of War 


192 


8T0BY OF TBF PLEBISCITE. 


old De Montauban, has distinguished himself in 
China, and in Africa in that Doineaii affair. 
Yes, these are three men worthy to lay their 
heads close together-— the Emperor, Bazaine, and 
Palikao I Well, let us hope on : hope costs noth- 
ing ! ” 

Thus passed away the month of August — the 
most miserable month of August in all our lives ! 

On the first of September, about ten o’clock at 
night, everybody was asleep in the village, when 
the cannon of Phalsbourg began to roar : it was 
the heavy guns on the bastion of Wilschberg, and 
those of the infantry barracks. Our little houses 
shook. 

All rose from their beds and got lights. At 
every report our windows rattled. 1 went out ; a 
crowd of other peasants, men and women, were 
listening and gazing. The niglit was dark, and 
the red lightning flashes from the two bastions 
lighted up the hills second after second. 

Then curiosity carried me away. I wished to 
know what it was, and in spite of all my wife 
could say, I started with three or four neighbors 
for Berlingen. As fast as we ascended amongst 
the bushes, the din became louder ; on reaching 
the brow of this liill, we heard a great stir all 
round ns. The people of Berlingen had fled into 
the wood: two shells had fallen in the village. 

o 

It was from this height that I observed the effect 
of the heavy guns, the bombs and shells rushing 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


193 


in the direction where we stood, hissing and roar- 
ing just like the noise of a steam-engine, and 
making such dreadful sounds that one could not 
help shrinking. 

At the same time we could hear a distant roll- 
ing of carriages at full gallop ; they were driving 
from Quatre Yents to Wilschberg : no doubt it 
was a convoy of provisions and stores, which the 
Phalsbourgers had observed a long way off : the 
moon was clouded ; but young people have sharp 
eyes. After seeing this, we came down again, 
and I recognized my cousin, who was walking 
near me. 

“ Good-evening, Christian,” said he, “ what do 
you think of that % ” 

I am thinking that men have invented dread 
ful engines to destroy each other.” 

‘‘ Yes, but this is nothing as yet, Christian ; it 
is but the small beginning of the story : in a year 
or two peace will be signed between the King of 
Prussia and France ; but eternal hatred has arisen 
between the two nations — just, fearful, unforgiv- 
ing hatred. What did we want of the Germans? 
Did we want any of their provinces? No, the 
majority of Frenchmen cared for no such thing. 
Did we covet their glory? No, we had military 
glory enough, and to spare ? So that they had 
no inducement to treat us as enemies. Well, 
whilst we were trying, in the presence of all Eu- 
rope, the experiment of universal suffrage at our 
9 


104 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

ow)i risk and peril — and this step so fair, so equi 
table, but still so dangerous with an ignorant peo- 
ple, had placed a bad man at the lielm — these 
good Christians took advantage of our weakness 
to strike the blow they had been fifty-four years 
in preparing. They have succeeded ! But woe 
to us ! woe to them ! This war will cost more 
blood and tears than the Zinzel could carry to the 
Ehine ! ” 

Thus spoke Cousin George: and, unhappily, 
from that day I have had reason to acknowledge 
that he was right. Those who were far from the 
enemy are now close, and those who are farther 
off will be forced to take a part. Let the men of 
the south of France remember that they are 
French as well as we, and if they don’t want to 
feel the sharp claw of the Pi'ussian upon their 
shoulders, let them rise in time : next to LoiTaine 
comes Champagne ; next to Alsace comes Franche 
Comte and Burgundy; these are fertile lands, 
and the Germans are fond of good wine. Clear- 
sighted men had long forewarned us that the 
Germans wanted Alsace and Lorraine : we could 
not believe it ; now the same men tell us, “ The 
Germans want the whole of France ! This race 
of slappers and slapped want to govern all Eu- 
rope ! Hearken ! The day of the Chambords, 
upheld by the Jesuits, and of the Bonapartes, 
supported by spies and fools, has gone by forever ! 
Let us be united under the Eepublic, or the Ger- 


8T0RT OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 195 

mans will devour us ! ” I think the men who 
tender this advice have a claim to be heard. 

The day after the cannonade we learned that 
some carts had been upset and pillaged near JBer 
lingen. Then the Prussian major declared that 
the commune was responsible for the loss, and 
that it would have to pay up five hundred francs 
damages. 

Five hundred francs ! Alas ! where could they 
be found after this pillage ? 

Happily, the Mayor of Berlingen succeeded in 
making the discovery that the sentinels who had 
the charge of the carts had themselves committed 
the robbery, to make presents to the depraved 
creatures who infested the camp, and the general 
contributions went on as before. 

Early in September the weather Avas fine ; and 
1 sliall always remember that the oats dropped by 
the German convoys began to grow all along the 
road they had taken. No doubt there was a simi- 
lar green track all the way from Bavaria far in- 
to the interior of France. 

What a loss for our country ! for it always fell 
to our share to replace anything that was lost or 
stolen. Of course the Prussians are too honor- 
able to pick or steal anywhere ! 

In that comparatively quiet time by night we 
could hear the bombardment of Strasbourg. 
About one in the morning, while the village was 
asleep, and all else in the distance was wrapped 


I9G story of the plebiscite. 

in silence, then those deep and loud reports were 
heard one by one. The citadel alone received 
five shells and one bomb per minute. Sometimes 
the fire increased in intensity; the din became 
terrible ; the earth seemed to be trembling far 
away down there: it sounded like the heavy 
strokes of the gravedigger at the bottom of a 
grave. 

And this went on forty-two days and forty-two 
nights without intermission : the new Church, the 
Library, and hundreds of houses were burned to 
the ground ; the Cathedral was riddled with 
shot ; a shell even carried away the iron cross at 
its summit. The unhappy Strasbourgers cast 
longing eyes westwards; none came to help. 
The men who have told me of these things when 
all was over could not refrain from tears. 

Of Metz we heard nothing ; rumors of battles, 
combats in Lorraine, ran through the country: 
rumors of whose authenticity we knew nothing. 

The silence of the Germans was maintained; 
but one evening they burst into loud hurrahs from 
Wechem to Biechelberg, from Biechelberg to 
Quatrc Yents. George and his wife came with 
pale faces. 

“ Well, you know the despatch? ” 

“ No ; what is it ? ” 

“ The honest man has just surrendered at 
Sedan with eighty thousand Frenchmen ! From 
the beginning of the world the like of it has 


STORY OF THE PLtBISGITE. 


197 


never been seen. He has given up his sword to 
the King of Prussia — liis famous sword of the 
2d December. He thought more of his own 
safety and his ammunition waggons than of tho 
honor of his name and of the honor of France ! 
Oh, the arch-deceiver ! he has deceived me even 
in this : I did think he was brave ! ” 

George lost all command over himself, 

“ There,” said he, “ that was to be the end of 
it ! His own army was those ten or fifteen thou- 
sand Decemberlings supplied by the Prefecture 
of Police, armed with loaded staves and life- 
preservers to break the heads of the defenders of 
the laws. He thought himself able to lead a 
French army to victory, as if they were his gang 
of thieves ; he has led them into a sort of a sink, 
and there, in spite of the valor of our soldiers, 
he has delivered them up to the King of Prussia : 
in exchange for what ? We shall know by and 
by. Our unhappy sons refused to surrender: 
they would have preferred to die sword in hand, 
trying to fight their way out ; it was his Majesty 
who, three times, gave orders to hoist the white 
flag ! ” 

Thus spoke my cousin, and we, more dead than 
alive, could hear nothing but the shouts and re- 
joicings outside. 

A flag of truce had just been despatched to the 
town. The Landwehr, who for some time had 
been occupying the place of the troops of the line 


198 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


with us — men of mature age, more devoted to 
peace than to the glory of King William — 
thought that all was over; that the King of 
Prussia would keep his word ; that he would not 
continue against the nation the war begun against 
Bonaparte, and that the town would be sure to 
surrender now. 

But the commander, Taillant, merely replied 
that the gates of Phalsbourg would be opened 
whenever he should receive his Majesty's written 
commands; that the fact of Kapoleon’s having 
given up his sword was no reason why he should 
abandon his post ; and that every man ought to be 
on his guard, in readiness for whatever might 
happen. 

The flag of truce returned, and the joy of the 
Landwehr was calmed down. 

At this time I saw something which gave me 
inflnite pleasure, and which I still enjoy thinking 
of. 

I had taken a short turn to Saveme by way of 
the Falberg, behind the German posts, hoping to 
learn news. Besides, I had some small debts to 
get in ; money was wanted every day, and no one 
knew where to find it. 

About five o’clock in the evening, I was return- 
ing home ; the weather was fine ; business had 
prospered, and I was stepping into the waj^side 
inn at Tzise to take a glass of wine. In the par- 
lor were seated a dozen Bavarians, quarrelling 


STORY OF THE FL^BISGITE. 


199 


with as m/iiiy Prussians seated round the deal 
tables. They had laid their helmets on the win- 
dow-seats, and were enjoying themselves away 
from their officers ; no doubt on their return from 
some marauding expedition. 

A Bavarian was exclaiming: “We are always 
put in the front, we are. The victory of Woerth 
is ours ; but for us you would have been beaten. 
And it is we who have just taken the Emperor 
and all his army. You other fellows, you do 
nothing but wait in the rear for the honor and 
glory, and the profit, too ! ” 

“ Well, now,” answered the Prussian, “ what 
would you have done but for us ? Have you got 
a general to show % Tell me your men. You are 
in the front line, true enough. You bear your 
broken bones with patience — I don’t deny that. 
But who commands you % The Prince Boyal of 
Prussia, Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, our 
old General de Moltke, and his Majesty King 
William ! Don’t tell us of your victories. Vic- 
tories belong to the chiefs. Even if you were 
every one killed to the last man, what difference 
would that make? Does an architect owe his 
fame to his materials ? What have picks, and 
spades, and trowels to do with victory ? ” 

“ What ! the spades ! ” cried a Bavarian ; “ dc 
you call us spades ? ” 

“ Yes, we do ! ” shouted the Prussian, arrogantly 
thumping the table. 


200 


8T0RT OF THE PLiJBISGlTE. 


Then, bang, bang went the pots and the hot 
ties ; and I only just had time to escape, laugh- 
ing, and thinking : After all, these poor Bavari- 
ans are right — they get the blows, and the others 
get the glory. Bismarck must be sly to have got 
them to accept such an arrangement. It is rather 
strong. And, then, what is the use of saying that 
the King of Bavaria is led by the J esuits.” 

About the 8th or 10th of September, the report 
ran that the Bepublic had been proclaimed at 
Paris ; that the Empress, the Princess Mathilde, 
Palikao, and all the rest had fled ; that a Govern- 
ment of National Defence had been proclaimed ; 
that every Frenchman from twenty to forty years 
of age had been summoned to arms. But we 
were sure of nothing, except the bombardment 
of Strasbourg and the battles round Metz. 

Justice compels me to say that everybody 
looked upon the conduct of Bazaine as admirable 
— that he was looked upon as the saviour of 
France. It was thought that he was bearing the 
weight of all the Germans upon his shoulders, 
and that, finally, he would break out, and deliver 
Toul, Phalsbourg, Bitche, Strasbourg, and crush 
all the investing armies. 

Often at that time George said to me : “ It will 
soon be our turn. We shall all have to march. 
My plans are already made ; my rifle and cart- 
ridge-box are ready. You must have the alarm- 
bell sounded as soon as we hear the cannon about 


8T0RT OF THE PLilBISCITE. 


201 


Sarreguemines and Fenetrange. We shall take 
the Germans between two hres.” 

He said this to me in the evening, when we 
were alone, and I am sure I could have wished no 
better ; but prudence was essential : the Land- 
wehr kept increasing in number from day to day. 
They used to come and sit in our midst around 
the stove ; they smoked their long porcelain pipes, 
with their heads down, in silence. As a certain 
number understood French, without telling us so, 
there was no talking together in their presence ; 
every one kept his thoughts to himself. 

All these Landwehr from Baden, Wurteraberg, 
and Bavaria, were commanded by Prussian offi- 
cers, so that Prussia supplied the officers, and the 
German States the soldiers : by these means they 
learn obedience to their true lords and masters. 
The Prussians were made to command, the others 
humbly to obey : thus they gained the victory. 
And now it must remain so for ages ; for tlie 
Alsacians and Lorrainers might revolt, France 
might rise, and troubles might come in all direc- 
tions. Yes, all these good Landwehr will remain 
under arms from father to son ; and the more 
numerous their victories, the higher the Prussians 
will climb upon their backs, and keep themfirmlv 
down. 

One thing annoyed them considerable ; this 
was a stir in the Yosges, and a talk of francs- 
tireurs, and of revolted villages about Epinal. Of 
9 * 


202 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

course this stirred us up too. These Landwehr 
treated the francs-tireurs as brigands in ambush to 
shoot down respectable fathers of families, to rob 
convoys, and threatened to hang them. 

For all that, many thought — “ If only a few 
came our way with powder and muskets, we 
would join them and try to get rid of our troubles 
ourselves.” 

Hope rose with these francs-tireurs ; but the 
requisitions harassed us all the more. 

The pillage was not quite so bad, but it went 
on still. When our Landwelir, whom we were 
obliged to lodge and keep, went off to mount 
guard at Phalsbourg, others came in troops from 
the neighboring villages, shouting, storming, and 
bawling for oxen, sheep, bacon ! And when they 
had terribly frightened the women, these fellows, 
after all, were satisfied with a few eggs, a cheese, 
or* a rope of onions ; and then they would take 
their departure quite delighted. 

Our own Landwehr no doubt did the same, for 
they never seemed short of vegetables to cook ; 
and these good fathers of families conscientiously 
divided it with all the abominable creatures who 
followed them and had no other way of living. 
How else could it be ? It takes time to turn a 
man into a beast, but a few months of war soon 
bring men back into the savage state. 


8T0RY OF THE PLtlBISGITE. 


203 


CHAPTER IX. 

On the 29th of September, a Prussian vague- 
mestre* brought me some proclamations with 
orders to make them public. 

These proclamations declared that we were 
now part of the department of La Moselle, and 
that we were under a Prussian prefect, the Count 
Henkel de Bonnermark, who was himself under 
the orders of the Governor-General of Alsace 
and Lorraine, the Count Bismarck-Bohlen, pro- 
visionally residing at Haguenau. 

I cannot tell what evil spirit then laid hold of 
me ; the Landwehr liad brought us the day 
before the news of the capitulation of Stras- 
bourg; I had been worried past all endurance 
by all the requisitions which I was ordered to 
call for, and I boldly declared my refusal to post 
that proclamation : that it was against my con- 
science ; that I looked upon myseif as a French- 
man still, and they need not expect an honest 
man to perform such an errand as that. 

The vaoruemestre seemed astonished to hear 

* The person in command of a waggon train— also an 
A-^my letter-carrier. 


204 STORY OF THE PLJ&BISCITE. 

me. lie was a stout man, with thick brown 
mustaches, and prominent eyes. 

‘‘ Will you be good enough to write that down, 
M. le Maire ? ” he said. 

“ Why not ? I am tired out with all these 
vexatious acts. Let my place be given to youi 
friend, M. Placiard : I should be thankful. Let 
him order these requisitions. I look upon them 
as mere robbery.” 

“ Well, write that down,” said he. “ I obey 
orders : I have nothing to do with the rest.” 

Then, without another thought, I opened my 
desk, and wrote that Christian Weber, Mayor of 
Eothalp, considered it against his conscience to 
proclaim JBismarck-Bohlen Governor of a French 
province, and that he refused absolutely. 

I signed my name to it, with the date, 29th 
September, 1870 ; and it was the greatest folly I 
ever committed in my life ; it has cost me dear. 

The vaguemestre took the paper, put it in his 
pocket, and went away. Two or three hours 
after, when I had thought it over a little, I began 
to repent, and I wished I could have the paper 
back again. 

That evening, after supper, I went to tell 
George the whole affair; he was quite pleased. 

“ Y ery good, indeed, Christian,” said he. “ IS’ow 
your position is clear. I have often felt Sony 
that you should be obliged, for the interest of the 
commune and to avoid pillage, to give bonds tc 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


205 


the rrussians. People are so absurd I Seeing 
the signature of the mayor, they make him, in a 
way, responsible for everything ; every one fan- 
cies he is bearing more than his share. Now you 
are rid of yonr burden ; you could not go so far 
as to requisition in the name of Henkel de Bon- 
nermark, self-styled prefect of La Moselle; let 
some one else do that work ; they will have no 
difficulty in finding as many ill-conditioned idiots 
as they want for that purpose.” 

My cousin’s approbation gave me satisfaction, 
and I was going home, when the same vaguemes- 
tre, in whose hands I had placed my resignation 
in the morning, entered, followed by three or 
four Landwehr. 

“Here is something for yon,” said he, handing 
me a note, which I read aloud : 

“ The persons called Christian Weber, miller, 
and George Weber, wine-merchant, in the village 
of Eothalp, will, to-morrow, drive to Droulingen, 
four thousand kilos of hay and ten thousand kilos 
of straw, without fail. By order — Floegel.” 

“Very well,” I replied. For although this re- 
fpiisition appeared to me to be rather heavy, I 
would not betray my indignation before our ene 
tines ; they would have been too much delighted 
“ V ery well, I will drive my hay and my straw to 
Droulingen.” 

“You will drive it yourself,” said the vague- 
mestre, brutally. “All the horses and carts in 


206 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


the village have been put into requisition; you 
have too often forgotten your own.” 

‘‘ I can prove that my horses and my carts have 
been worked oftener than any one’s,” I replied^ 
with rising wrath. “ There are your receipts ; I 
hope you won’t deny them I ” 

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” said he. “The 
horses, the carts, the hay and straw are de« 
manded ; that is plain.” 

“Quite plain,” said Cousin George. “The 
strongest may always command.” 

“ Exactly so,” said the vaguemestre. 

He went out with his men, and George, with- 
out anger, said, “ This is war I Let us be calm. 
Perhaps our turn will come now that the honest 
man is no longer in command of our armies. In 
the meantime the best thing we can do, if we do 
not want to lose our horses and our carts besides, 
will be to load to-night, and to start very early in 
the morning. We shall return before seven 
o’clock to supper ; and then they won’t be able to 
take any more of our hay and straw, because we 
shall have none left.” 

For my part, I was near bursting with rage ; but^ 
as he set the example, by stripping off his coat and 
putting on his blouse, I went to wake up old 
Father Off ran to help me to load. 

My wife and Gredel were expecting me : for 
the vaguemestre and his men had called at the 
mill, before coming 1o George’s house, and they 


STORY OF THE PLi! BIS CITE. 


207 


were trembling with apprehension. I told them 
to be calm ; that it was only taking some hay and 
straw to Droulingen, where I should get a receipt 
for future payment. 

Whether they believed it or not, they went in 
again. 

I lighted the lantern, Offran mounted up into 
the loft and threw me down the trusses, which I 
caught upon a fork. About two in the morning, 
the two carts being loaded, I fed the horses and 
rested a few minutes. 

At five o’clock, George, outside, was already 
•calling “ Christian, I am here ! ” 

I got up, put on my hat and my blouse, opened 
the stable from the inside, put the horses in, and 
we started in the fresh and early morning, sup- 
posing we should return at night. 

In all the villages that we passed through, 
troops of Land wehr were sitting before their huts, 
ragged, with patched knees and filthy beards, like 
the description of the Cossacks of former days, 
smoking their pipes ; and the cavalry and infantry 
were coming and going. 

Those who remained in garrison in the villages 
were obliged by their orders to give up their good 
walking- boots to the others, and to wear their old 
shoes. 

Mounted ofiicers, with their low, flat caps pulled 
down upon their noses, were skimming along the 
paths by the road-side like the wind. In the old 


208 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


wayside inns, in the corners of the yards the 
dunghills were lieaped np with entrails and skins 
of beasts : hides, stuffed with straw, were hanging 
also from the banisters of the old galleries, whei-e 
we used to see washed linen hanging out to dry. 
Misery, unspeakable misery, and gnawing anxiety 
were marked upon the countenances of the people. 
The Germans alone looked fat and sleek in their 
broken boots ; they had good white bread, good 
red wine, good meat, and smoked good tobacco or 
cigars : they were living like fighting-cocks. 

At a certain former time, tliese people had com- 
plained bitterly of our invasion of their country,’ 
without remembering that they had begun by in- 
vading ourselves. And yet they were right. At 
the close of the First Empire, the French were 
only fighting for one man ; but the Germans had 
since had their revenge twice, in 1814 and 1815, 
and for fifty years they had always been coming 
to us as friends, and were received like brothers : 
we bore no malice against them, and they seemed 
to bear none against us ; peace had softened us. 
We only wished for their prosperity, as well as 
For our own; for nations are really happy only 
when their neighbors are prospering : then busi- 
ness and industry all move hand in hand together ? 
That was our position ! We said nothing more 
of our victories ; we talked of our defeats, so as 
to do full justice to their courage and their pa« 
triotisra ; we acknowledged our faults ; they pre- 


STOUT OF THE PLtiBISGITE. 


209 


tended to acknowledge theirs, and talked of fra- 
ternity. We believed in their uprightness, in 
their candor and frankness : we were really fond 
of them. 

Now hatred has arisen between us. 

Whose the fault ? 

First, our stupidity, our ignorance. We all 
believed that the Plebiscite was for peace; the 
Ministers, the prefets, the sous-prefets, the magis- 
trates, the commissioners of police, everybody in 
authority confirmed this. A villain has used it 
to declare war ! But the Germans were glad of 
the war ; they were full of hatred, and malice, 
and envy, without betraying it : they had long 
watched us and studied us ; they endured ever- 
lasting drill and perpetual fatigue to become the 
strongest, and sought with pains for an opportu- 
nity to get war declared against themselves, and 
BO set themselves right in the eyes of Europe. 
The Spanish complication was but a trap laid by 
Bismarck for Bonaparte. The Germans said to 
one another : “ We have twelve hundred thous- 
and men under arms ; we are four to one. Let us 
seize the opportunity ! If the French Govern- 
ment take it into their heads to organize and dis- 
cipline the Garde Mobile, all might be lost. . 
Quick, quick ! ” 

This is the uprightness, frankness, and frater- 
nity of the Germans ! 

Our idiot fell into the tray The Germans 


210 


8TOR7 OF THE PLEBISCITE, 


overwhelmed us with their multitudes. They are 
our masters ; they hold our country ; we are pay- 
ing them milliards! and now they are coming 
back, just as before, into our towns and cities in 
troops, smiling upon us, extending the right hand : 
‘‘ Ha ! ha ! how are you now ? Have you been 
pretty well all this long while ? What 1 don’t 
you know me? You look angry! Ah! but 
you really shouldn’t. Such friends, such good 
old friends! Come, now! give me a small or- 
der, only a small one ; and don’t let us think of 
that unhappy war ! ” 

Faugh ! Let us look another way ; it is too 
horrible. 

To excuse them, I say (for one must always 
seek excuses for everything) man is not by nature 
so debased ; there must be causes to explain so 
great a want of natural pride ; and I say to my- 
self-— that these are poor creatures trained to sub- 
mission, and that these unfortunate beings do as 
the birds do that the birdcatcher holds captives 
in his net ; they sing, they chirp, to decoy others. 

“ Ah ! how jolly it is here ! how delightful here 
in Old Germany, with an Emperor, kings, princes, 
German dukes, grand-dukes, counts, and barons ! 
What an honor to fight and die for the German 
Fatherland ! The German is the foremost man 
in the world.” 

Yes. Yes. Poor devils! We know all about 
that. That is the song your masters taught you 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


211 


at school ! For the King of Prussia and is no* 
bility yon work, you spy, you have you. bones 
broken on the battle-field ! They pay you with 
liollow phrases about the noble German, the 
German Fatherland, the German sky, the Ger- 
man Khine ; and when you sing false, with rough 
German slaps upon your German faces. 

Ko ; no ! it is of no use ; the Alsacians and the 
Lorrainers will never whistle like you : they have 
learned another tune. 

Well ! all this did not save us from being 
nipped, George and me, and from being made 
aware that at the least resistance they would 
wring our necks like chickens. So we put a good 
face upon a bad game, observing the desolation 
of all this country, where the cattle plague had 
just broken out. At Lohre, at Ottviller, in a 
score of places, this terrible disease, the most 
ruinous for the peasantry, was already beginning 
its ravages; and the Prussians, who eat more 
than lour times the quantity of meat that we do 
— when it belongs to other people — were afraid 
of coming short. 

Their veterinary doctors knew but one remedy; 
when a beast fell ill, refused its fodder, and be- 
came low-spirited, they slaughtered it, and buried 
it with hide and horns, six feet under ground. 
This was not much cleverer than the bombard- 
ment of towns to force them to surrender, or the 


212 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


firing of villages to compel people to pay tlieii 
requisitions. But then it answered the purpose ! 

The Germans in this campaign have taught ua 
their best inventions ! They had thought them 
over for years, whilst our schoolmasters and our 
gazettes were telling us that they were passing 
away their time in dreaming of philosophy, and 
other things of so extraordinary a kind that the 
French could not understand the thing at all. 

About eleven we were at Droulingen, where 
was a Silesian battalion ready to march to Metz. 
It seems that some cavalry were to follow us, and 
that the requisitions had exhausted the fodder in 
the country, for our hay and straw were immedi- 
ately housed in a barn at the end of the village, 
and the Major gave us a receipt. He was a gray- 
bearded Prussian, and he examined us with 
wrinkled eyes, just like an old gendarme who is 
about to take your description. 

This business concluded, George and I thought 
we might return at once ; when, looking through 
the window, we saw them loading our carts with 
the baggage of the battalion. Then I came out, 
exclaiming : “ Hallo ! those carts are ours ! We 
only came to make a delivery of hay and 
straw ! ” 

The Silesian commander, a tall, stiff, and un- 
compromising-looking fellow^ who was standing 
at the door, just turned his head, and, as the 
soldiers were stopping, quietly said : “ Go on ! ” 


STORY OF THE PL^!BISGITE. 


213 


“ But, captain,” said I, ‘‘ here is my receipt 
from the Major ! ” 

“ Nothing to me,” said he, walking into the 
mess-room, where the table was laid for the 
officers. 

We stood outside in a state of indignation, as 
you may believe. The soldiers were enjoying the 
joke. I was very near giving them a rap with my 
whip-handle ; but a couple of sentinels marching 
up and down with arms shouldered, would cer- 
tainly have passed their bayonets through me. I 
turned pale, and went into Finck’s public-house, 
where George had turned in before me. The 
small parlor was full of soldiers, who were eating 
and drinking as none but Prussians can eat and 
drink ; almost putting it into their noses. 

The sight and the smell drove us out, and 
George, standing at the door, said to me : Our 
wives will be anxious; had we not better find 
somebody to tell them what has happened to 
us?” 

But it was no use wishing or looking ; there 
was nobody. 

The officers’ horses along the wall, their bridles 
loose, were quietly munching their feed, and ours, 
w'hich were already tired, got nothing. 

Hey ! ” said I to the feld-weibel, who was 
overlooking the loading of the carts ; “ I hope 
you will not think of starting without giving a 
handful to our horses ? ” 


214 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


“ If you have got any money, you clown,” said 
le, grinning, you can give them hay, and eren 
)ats, as much as you like. There, look at the 
signboard before you : ‘ Hay and oats sold here.’ ” 

That moment I heaped up more hatred against 
the Prussians than I shall be able to satiate in all 
my life. 

“Come on,” cried George, pulling me by the 
arm ; for he saw my indignation. 

And we went into the “ Bay Horse,” which was 
as full of people as the other, but larger and 
higher. We fed our horses ; then, sitting alone 
in a corner, we ate a crust of bread and took a 
glass of wine, watching the movements of the 
troops outside. I went out to give my horses a 
couple of buckets of water, for I knew that the 
Germans would never take that trouble. 

George called to him the little pedler Friedel, 
who was passing by with his pack, to tell him to 
inform our wives that we should not be home till 
to-morrow morning, being obliged to go on to 
Sarreguemines. Friedel promised, and went on 
his way. 

Almost immediately, the word of command and 
the rattle of arms warned us that the battalion 
was about to march. Wo only had the time to 
pay and to lay hold of the horses’ bridles. 

It was pleasant weather for walking — neither 
too much sun nor too much shade ; fine autumij 
weather. And since, in comparing the Germans 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 215 

with our own soldiers as to their marching pow- 
ers, I have often thought that they never would 
have reached Paris but for our railroads. Their 
infantry are just as conspicuous for their slowness 
and their heaviness as their cavalry are for their 
swiftness and activity. These people are splay- 
footed, and they cannot keep up long. When 
they are running, their clumsy boots make a ter- 
rible clatter ; which is perhaps the reason why 
they wear them : they encourage each otlier by 
tliis means, and imagine they dismay the enemy. 
A single company of theirs makes more noise 
than one of our regiments. But they soon break 
out in a perspiration, and their great delight is to 
get up and have a ride. 

Towards evening, by five o’clock, we had only 
gone about three leagues from Droulingen, when, 
instead of continuing on their way, the com- 
mander gave the battalion orders to turn out of 
it into a parish road on the left. Whether it was 
to avoid the lodgings by the way, which were all 
exhausted, or for some other reason, I cannot say. 

Seeing this, I ran to the commanding officer in 
the greatest distress. 

But in the name of heaven, captain,” said I, 
are you not going on to Sarreguemines ? We 
are fatliers Of families ; we have wives and chil- 
dren ! You promised that at Sarreguemines we 
might unload and return home.” 

George was coming, too, to complain ; but he 


216 STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

had not yet reached us, when the commander, 
from on horseback, roared at ns with a voice of 
rage: “Will you return to your carts, or I will 
have you beaten till all is blue? Will you make 
haste back ? ” 

Then we returned to take hold of our bridles, 
with our heads hanging down. Three hours af- 
ter, at nightfall, we came into a miserable vil- 
lage, full of small crosses along the road, and 
w^here the people had nothing to give us ; for 
famine had overtaken them. 

We had scarcely halted, when a convoy of 
bread, meat, and wine arrived, escorted by a few 
hussars. No doubt it came from Alberstoff. 
Every soldier received his ration, but we got not 
so much as an onion : not a crust of bread — 
nothing — nor our horses either. 

That night George and I alone rested under 
the shelter of a deserted smithy, while the Prus- 
sians were asleep in every hut and in the barns, 
and the sentinels paced their rounds about our 
carts, with their muskets shouldered ; we began 
to deliberate what we ought to do. 

George, who already foreboded the miseries 
which were awaiting us, would have started that 
moment, leaving both horses and carts ; but I 
could not entertain such an idea as that. Give 
up my pair of beautiful dappled gray horses, 
which I had bred and reared in my own orchard 
at the back of the mill ! It was impossible. 


STORY OF THE PLtBISGITE. 


217 


“ Listen to me,” said George. “ liemember the 
Alsacians who have been passing by us the last 
fortnight : they look as if they had come out of 
their graves ; they had never received the small- 
est ration : they would have been carried even to 
Paris if they had not run away. You see that 
these Germans have no bowels. They are pos- 
sessed with a bitter hatred against the French, 
which makes them as hard as iron ; they have 
been incited against us at their schools ; they 
would like to exterminate us to the last man. 
Let us expect nothing of them ; that will be the 
safest. I have only six francs in my pocket ; 
what have you ? ” 

“ Eight livres and ten sous.” 

“ With that, Christian, we cannot go far. The 
nearer we get to Metz, the worse ruin we shall 
find the country in. If we were but able to write 
home, and ask for a little money ! but you see 
they have sentinels on every road, at all the lane 
ends : they allow neither foot-passengers, nor let- 
ters, nor news to pass. Believe me, let us try to 
escape.” 

All these good arguments were useless. I 
thought that, with a little patience, perhaps at the 
next village, other horses and other carriages might 
be found to requisition, and that we might be al- 
lowed quietly to return home. That would have 
been natural and proper ; and so in any country 
in the world they would have done. 

10 


218 


STORY OF THF PLEBISCITE. 


George, seeing that he was unable to shake my 
resolution, lay down upon a bench and went to 
Bleep. I could not shut my eyes. 

l^ext day, at six o’clock, we had to resume the 
march; the Silesians well-refreshed, we with 
empty stomachs. 

We were moving in the direction of Gros Ten- 
quin. The farther we advanced, the less I knew 
of the country. It was the country around Metz, 
le pays Messin, an old French district, and our 
misery increased at every stage. The Prussians 
continued to receive whatever they required, and 
took no further trouble with us than merely pre- 
venting us from leaving their company: they 
treated us like beasts of burden ; and, in spite of 
all our economy, our money was wasting away. 

Never was so sad a position as ours ; for, on 
the fourth or fifth day, the officer, guessing from 
oin* appearance that we were meditating flight, 
quite unceremoniously said in our presence to the 
sentinels ^ “ If those people stir out of the road, 
fire upon them.” 

We met many others in a similar position to 
ours, in the midst of these squadrons and these 
regiments, which were continually crossing each 
other and were covering the roads. At the sight 
of each other, we felt as if we could burst into 
tears. 

George always kept up his spirits, and even 
from time to time he assumed an air of gayety, 


tiTORY OF THE PLtJBISGITE. 


219 


asking a light of tlie soldiers to light his pipe, 
and singing sea-songs, which made the Prussian 
oflicers laugli. They said: This fellow is a real 
Frenchman : he sees things in a bright light.” 

I could not understand that at all : no, indeed ! 
I said to myself that my cousin was losing his 
senses. 

What grieved me still more was to see my fine 
horses perishing — my poor horses, so sleek, so 
spirited, so steady ; the best horses in the com- 
mune, and which I had reared with so much sat- 
isfaction. Oh, how deplorable! . . . Passing 
along the 1) edges, by the roadside, I pulled here 
and there liandfuls of grass, to give them a taste 
of something green, and in a moment they would 
stare at it, toss up their heads, and devour this 
poor stuff. The poor brutes could be seen wast- 
ing away, and this pained me more than anything. 

Then the thoughts of my wife and Gredel, and 
their uneasiness, what they were doing, what was 
becoming of the mill and our village — what the 
people would say when they knew that their 
mayor was gone, and then the town, and Jacob 
— everything overwhelmed me, and made my 
heart sink within me. 

But the worst of all, and what I shall never 
forget, was in the neighborhood of Metz. 

For a fortnight or three weeks there had been 
no more fighting ; the city and Bazaine’s army 
were surrounded by huge earthworks, which the 


220 


STORY OF THB PLEBISCITE. 


Prussians had armed with guns. We could see 
that afar off, following the road on our right. 
We could see many places, too, where the soil 
had been recently turned over ; and George said 
they were pits, in which hundreds of dead hiy 
buried. A few burnt and bombarded villages, 
farms, and castles in ruins, were also seen in the 
neighborhood. There was no more fighting ; but 
there was a talk of francs-tireurs, and the Silesians 
looked uncomfortable. 

At last, on the tenth day since our departure, 
after having crossed and recrossed the country in 
all direcjtions, we arrived about three o’clock at a 
large village on the Moselle, when the battalion 
came to a halt. Several detachments from our 
battalion had filled up the gaps in other bat- 
talions, so that there remained with us only the 
third part of tlie men who had come from Drou- 
lingen. 

After the distribution of provender, seeing that 
the officers’ horses had been fed, and that they 
were putting their bridles on, I just went and 
picked up a few handfuls of hay and straw which 
were lying on the ground, to give to mine. I 
had collected a small bundle, when a corporal on 
guard in the neighborhood, having noticed what 
1 was doing, came and seized me by the whiskers, 
shaking me, and striking me on the face. 

“ Ah ! you greedy old miser ! Is that the way 
you feed your beasts ? ” 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE, 


221 


I was beside myself with rage, and had already 
lifted my whip-handle to send the rascal sprawl- 
ing on the earth, when Consin George precipi- 
tated himself between ns, crying : “ Christian ! 
what are you dreaming of? ” 

He wrested the whip from me, and whilst I 
was quivering in every limb, he began to excuse 
me to the dirty Prussian ; saying that I had 
acted hastily, that I had thought the hay was to 
be left, that it ought to be considered that our 
horses too followed the battalion, etc. 

The fellow listened, drawn up like a gendarme, 
and said: “ Well, then, I will pass it over this 
time; but if he begins his tricks again, it will be 
quite another thing.” 

Then I went into the stable and stretched my- 
self in the empty rack, my hat drawn over my 
face, without stirring for a couple of hours. 

The battalion was going to march again. 
George was looking for me everywhere. At 
last he found me. I rose, came out, and the 
sight of all these soldiers dressed in line, with 
tlieir rifles and their helmets, made my blood run 
cold : I wished for death. 

George spoke not a word, and we moved for- 
ward; but from that moment I had resolved 
upon flight, at any price, abandoning everything. 

The same evening, an extraordinary event hap- 
pened; we received a little straw! We lay in 
the open air, under our carts, because the village 


222 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


at which we had just arrived was full of troops. 
I had only twelve sous left, and George but 
twenty or thirty. He went to buy a little bread 
and eau-de-vie in a public-house ; we dipped our 
bread in it, and in this way we were just able to 
sustain life. 

Every time the corporal passed, who had laid 
his hand upon me, my knife moved of its own 
accord in my pocket, and I said to myself: 
“ Shall an Alsacian, an old Alsacian, endure this 
affront without revenge? Shall it be said that 
Alsacians allow themselves to be knocked about 
by such spawn as these fellows, whom we have 
thrashed a hundred times in days gone by, and 
who used to run away from us like hares ? ” 

George, who could see by my countenance 
what I was thinking of, said: ^‘Christian ! Lis- 
ten to me. Don’t get angry. Set down these 
blows to the account of tlie Plebiscite, like the 
bonds for bread, flour, hay, meat, and the rest. 
It was you wlio voted all that : the Germans are 
not the causes ! They are brute beasts, so used 
to have their faces slapped, that they catch every 
opportunity to give others the like, when there 
is no danger, and when they are ten to one. 
These slaps don’t produce the same effect on 
them as on us ; they are felt only on the surface, 
no farther! So comfort yourself; this monstrous 
beast never thonght he was inflicting any dis 


STORY OF THE PLt^BISCITE. 


223 


grace upon yon : he took you for one of his own 
sort.” 

But, instead of pacifying me, George only 
made me the more indignant ; especially when he 
told me that the Germans, talking together, had 
told how Queen Augusta of Prussia had just sent 
her own cook to the Emperor Napoleon to cook 
nice little dishes for him, and her own band to 
play agreeable music under his balcony ! 

I had had enough ! I lay under our cart, and 
all that night I had none but bad dreams. 

We had always hoped that, on coming near a 
railway, the remains of the battalion would get 
in, and that we should be sent home ; unhappily 
our men were intended to fill up gaps in other 
battalions: companies were detached right and 
left, but there were always enough left to want 
our conveyances, and to prevent us from setting 
off home. 

We had not had clean shirts for a fortnight ; 
we had not once taken off our shoes, knowing 
thab we should have too much difficulty in get- 
ting them on again ; we had been wetted through 
with rain and dried by the sun five and twenty 
times ; we had suffered all the miseiy and wretcli- 
edness of hunger, we were reduced to scarecrows 
by weariness and suffering; but neither cousin 
nor I suffered from dysenterj^ like those Ger 
mans ; the poorest nourishment still sustained 
ns ; but the bacon, the fresh -meat, the fruits, the 


224 8T0BT OF THE PLilBISGITE. 

raw vegetables, devoured by these creatures with- 
out the least discretion, worked upon them dread- 
fully : no experience could teach them wisdom ; 
their natural voracity made them devoid of all 
prudence. ^ 

Asa climax to our miseries, the officers of our 
battalion were talking of marching on Paris. 

The Prussians knew a month beforehand that 
Bazaine would never come out of his camp, and 
that he would finally surrender after he had con- 
sumed all the provisions in Metz ; they said this 
openly, and looked upon Marshal Bazaine as our 
best general: they praised and exalted him for 
his splendid campaign. The only fault they 
could find was, that he had not shut himself up 
sooner; because then things would have been 
settled much earlier. They complained, too, of 
our Emperor, and affirmed that the best thing 
we could do would be to set him on his throne 
again. 

George and I heard these things repeated a 
hundred times at the inns and public-houses 
where we halted. The French inn-keepers made 
us sit behind the stove, and for pity, passed iw 
sometimes the leavings of the soup ; but for this, 
we should have perished of hunger. They asked 
us in whispers what the Germans were saying, 
and when we repeated their sayings, the poor 
people said to us : ‘‘ Beally, how fond the Prus- 
sians are of us ! Certainly they do owe some 


8T0EF OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


225 


comfort to the men who have surrendered ! Every 
brave deed deserves to be rewarded.” 

One of the Lorraine innkeepers said this to us ; 
he was also the first to tell us that Gambetta, 
having escaped from Paris in a balloon, W'as now 
at Tours with Glais-Bizoin and several others, to 
raise a powerful army behind the Loire. In 
these parts they got the Belgian papers, and when- 
ever we heard a bit of good news it screwed up 
our courage a little. 

Quantities of provisions and stores were pass- 
ing : iipmense flocks of sheep and herds of oxen, 
cases of sausages, barrels of bread, wine, and 
flour ; sometimes regiments also. The trains for 
the East were carrying wounded in heaps, 
stretched one over another in the carriages upon 
mattresses, their pale faces seeking fresh air and 
coolness at all the windows. German doctors 
with the red cross upon their arms were accom- 
panying them, and in every village there were 
ambulances. 

The heavy rains and the first frosts had come. 
A thousand rumors were afloat of great battles 
under the walls of Paris. The Prussians were 
especially wroth with Gambetta : “ that Gam- 
betta ! the bandit ! ” as they called him, who was 
preventing them from having peace and bringing 
back Napoleon. Never have I seen men so en- 
raged with an enemy because he would not sur- 
10 * 


226 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


render. The officers and soldiers talked of noth 
ing else. 

“ That Gambetta,” said they, ‘‘ is the cause of 
all our trouble. His francs-tireurs deserve to be 
strung up. But for him, peace would be made. 
We should already have got Alsace and Lor- 
raine ; and the Emperor Is apoleon, at the head of 
the army of Metz, would have been on his way to 
restore order at Paris.” 

At every convoy of wounded their indignation 
mounted higher. They thought it perfectly 
natural and proper that they should set fire to us, 
devastate our country, plunder and shoot us ; 
but for us to defend ourselves, was infamous ! 

Is it possible to imagine a baser hypocrisy ? 
For they did not think what they were saying ; 
they wanted to make us believe that our cause 
was a bad one ; yet how could there be a holier 
and a more glorious one ? 

Of course every Frenchman, from the oldest 
to the youngest — and principally the women — 
prayed for Gambetta’s success, and more tlian 
once tears of emotion dropped at the thought 
that, perhaps, he might save us. Crowds of young 
men left the country to join him, and then the 
Prussians burdened their parents with a war con- 
tribution of fifty francs a day. They were ruin- 
ing them ; and yet this did not prevent others 
from following in numerous bands. 

The Prussians threatened with the galleys who- 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


22 ? 


soever should connive at the flight, as they called 
it, of these volunteers, whether by giving them 
money, or supplying them with guides, or by any 
other means. Violence, cruelty, falsehood — all 
sorts of means seemed good to the Germans to 
reduce us to submission ; but arms were the least 
resorted to of all these means, because they did 
not wish to lose men, and in flghting they might 
have done so. 

We had stopped three days at the village of 
Jametz, in the direction of Montmedy. It was in 
the latter part of October ; the rain was pouring ; 
George and I had been received by an old Lor- 
raine woman, tall and spare. Mother Marie-Jeanne, 
whose son was serving in Metz. She had a small 
cottage by the roadside, with a little loft above 
which you reached by a ladder, and a small gar- 
den behind, entirely ravaged. A few ropes of 
onions, a few peas and beans in a basket, were 
all her provisions. She concealed nothing ; and 
whenever a Prussian came in to ask for anything 
she feigned deafness and answered nothing. Her 
misery, her broken windows, her dilapidated walls 
and the little cupboard left wide open, soon in- 
duced these greedy gluttons to go somewhere else, 
supposing there was nothing for them there. 

This poor woman had observed our wretched 
plight ; she had invited us in, asking us where 
we were from, and we had told her of our mis- 
fojl Lines. She herself had told us that there re- 


228 8T0B7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

mained a few bundles of bay in the loft and that 
we might take them, as she had no need for them ; 
the (Germans having eaten her cow. 

We climbed up there to sleep by night and drew 
up the ladder after us, listening to the rain plash- 
ing on the roof and running off the tiles. 

George had but ten sous left and I had nothing, 
when, on the third day, as we were lying in the 
hay-loft, about two in the morning, the bugle 
sounded. Something had happened : an order 
had come — I don’t know what. 

We listened attentively. There were hurrying 
footsteps ; the butts of the muskets were rattling 
on the pavement : they were assembling, falling 
in, and in all directions were cries : 

“ The drivers ! the drivers ! where are they ? ” 

The commander was swearing; he shouted 
furiously, 

“ Fetch them here ! find them ! shoot the vaga- 
bonds.” 

We did not stir a finger. 

Suddenly the door burst open. The Prussians 
demanded in German and in French : Where 
are the drivers — those Alsacian drivers ? ” 

The aged dame answered not a word ; she 
shook her head, and looked as deaf as a post, 
just as usual. At last, out they rushed again. 
The rascals had indeed seen the trap-door in the 
ceiling, but it seems they were in a hurry and 
could not find a ladder without losing time. At 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 229 

last, whether they saw it or not, presently we 
heard the tramping of the men in the mud, the 
cracking of the whips, the rolling of the carts, 
and then all was silent. 

The battalion had disappeared. 

Then only, after they had left half an hour, 
the kind old woman below began to call us. 
“ You can come down,” she said ; “ they are 
gone now.” 

And we came down. 

The poor woman said, laughing heartily, “Now 
you are safe! Only you must lose no time; 
there might come an order to catch you. There, 
eat that.” 

She took out of the cupboard a large basin full 
of soup made of beans — for she used to cook 
enough for three or four days at a time — and 
warmed it over the fire. 

“ Eat it all ; never mind me ! I have got more 
beans left.” 

There was no need for pressing, and in a 
couple of minutes the basin was empty. 

The good woman looked on with pleasure, and 
George said to her: “We have not had such a 
meal for a week.” 

“ So much the better 1 I am glad to have done 
you any service I And now go. I wish I could 
give you some money ; but I have none.” 

“ You have saved our lives,” I said. “ God 


230 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


grant you may see your son again. But I have 
another request to make before we go.” 

“ What is it, then ? ” 

“ Leave to give you a kiss.’ 

“ Ah, gladly, my poor Alsacians, with all my 
heart ! I am not pretty as I used to be ; but it 
is all the same.” 

And we kissed her as we would a mother. 

When we went to the door, the daylight was 
breaking. 

“ Before you lies the road to Dun-sur-Meuse,” 
she said, “ don’t take that ; that is the road the 
Prussians have taken : no doubt the commander 
has given a description of you in the next village. 
But here is the road to Metz by Damvillers and 
Etain ; follow that. If you are stopped say that 
your horses were worked to death, and you were 
released.” 

This poor old woman was full of good sense. 
We pressed her hand again, with tears in our eyes, 
and then we set off, following the road she had 
pointed out to us. 

I should be very much puzzled now to tell you 
all the villages we passed between Jametz and 
Rothalp. All that country between Metz, Mont- 
medy and Yerdun was swarming with cavalry 
and infantry, living at the expense of the people, 
and keeping them, as it were, in a net, to eat 
them as they were wanted. The troops of the 
line, and especially the gunners, kept around the 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 231 

fortresses ; the rest, the Landwehr in masses, oc 
ciipied even the smallest hamlets and made requi- 
sitions everywhere. 

In one little village between Jametz and Dam- 
nllers, we heard on our right a sharp rattle of 
musketry along a road, and George said to me : 
“ Behind there our battalion is engaged. All I 
hope is that the brave commander who talked of 
shooting us may get a ball through him, and your 
corporal too.” 

The village people standing at their doors said, 
“ It is the francs-tireurs! ” 

And joy broke out in every countenance, espe- 
cially when an old man ran up from the path by 
the cemetery, crying : “ Two carriages, full of 
wounded, are coming — two large Alsacian wag- 
gons ; they are escorted by hussars.” 

We had just stopped at a grocer’s shop in the 
market square, and w^ere asking the woman who 
kept this little shop if there was no watchmaker 
in the place — for my cousin wished to sell his 
watch, which he had hidden beneath his shirt, 
since we had left Droulingen — and the woman 
was coming down the steps to point out the spot, 
when the old man began to cry, “ Here come the 
Alsacian carts ! ” 

Immediately, without waiting for more, we set 
off at a run to the other end of the village ; but 
near to a little ri^er, whose name I cannot re- 
member, just over a clump of pollard willows, we 


232 STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 

caught the glitter of a couple of helmets, and 
this made us take a path along the river-side, 
which was then running over in consequence of 
the heavy rains. We went on thus a considera- 
Lie distance, having sometimes the water up to 
our knees. 

In about half an hour we were getting out of 
these reed beds, and had just caught sight, above 
the hill on our left, of the steeple of another vil- 
lage, when a cry of “ Wer da ! ’’ * stopped us 
short, near a deserted hut two or three hundred 
paces from the first house. At the same moment 
a Landwehr started out of the empty house, liis 
rifle pointed at us, and his finger on the trigger. 

George seeing no means of escape, answered, 
“ Guter freund ! ” f 

“ Stand there,” cried the German : “ don’t stir, 
or I fire.” 

We were, of course, obliged to stop, and only 
ten minutes afterwards, a picket coming out of 
the village to relieve the sentinel, carried us off 
like vagrants to the mayoralty-house. There the 
captain of the Landwehr questioned us at great 
length as to who we were, whence we came, the 
cause of our departure, and why we had no 
passes. 

We repeated that our horses were dead of 
overwork, and that we had been told to return 
home; but he refused to believe us. At last, 
* “ Who goes there ? ” f “ friend.” 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 233 

however, as George was asking him for money 
to pursue our journey, he began to exclaim: 

“ To the with you, scoundrels ! Am I to 

furnish you with provisions and rations! Go; 
and mind you don’t come this way again, or it 
will be woi’se for you ! ” 

We went out very w^ell satisfied. 

At the bottom of the stairs, George was think- 
ing of going up again to ask for a pass ; but I 
was so alarmed lest this captain should change 
his mind,'that I obliged my cousin to put a good 
distance between that fellow and ourselves with 
all possible speed ; which we did, without any 
other misadventure until we came to Etain. 
There George sold his gold watch and chain for 
sixty-five francs; making, however, the watch- 
maker promise that if he remitted to him seventy- 
five francs before the end of the month, the 
watch and chain should be returned to him. 

The watchmaker promised, and cousin then 
taking me by the arm, said: “Now, Christian, 
come on; we have fasted long enough, let us 
have a banquet.” 

And a hundred paces farther on, at the street 
corner, we went into one of those little inns 
where you may have a bed for a few sous. 

The men there, in a little dark room, were not 
gentlemen ; they w’ere taking their bottles of 
wine, with their caps over one ear, and shirt 
collars loose and open ; but seeing us at the door, 


234 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


ragged as we were, with three-weeks’ shirts, and 
beards and hats saturated and out of all shapa 
and discolored with rain and sun, they took us at 
first for bear-leaders, or dromedary drivers. 

The hostess, a fat woman, came forward to ask 
what we wanted. 

“ Your best strong soup, a good piece of beef, 
a bottle of good wine, and as much bread as we 
can eat,” said George. 

The fat woman gazed at us with winking eyes, 
and without moving, as if to ask : “ All very fine 1 
but who is going to pay me ? ” 

George displayed a five-franc piece, and at 
once she replied, smiling : “ Gentlemen, we will 
attend to you immediately.” 

Around us were murmurings : “ They are Al- 
sacians! they are Germans! they are this, they 
are that ! ” 

But we heeded nothing, we spread our elbows 
upon the table ; and the soup having appeared in 
a huge basin, it was evident that our appetites 
were good ; as for the beef, a regular Prussian 
morsel, it was gone in a twinkling, although it 
weighed two pounds, and was flanked with pota- 
toes and other vegetables. Then, the flrst bottle 
having disappeared, George had called for a 
second; and our eyes were beginning to be 
opened ; we regarded the people in another light; 
and one of the bystanders having ventured to 
repeat that we were Germans, George turned 


STORY OF THE PLilBISClTE. 


236 


sharply round and cried : Who says we are 
Germans? Come let us see! If he has any 
spirit, let him rise. We Germans 1 ” 

Then he took up the bottle and shattered it 
upon the table in a thousand fragments. 1 saw 
that he was losing his head, and cried to him : 
“ George, for Heaven’s sake don’t : you will get 
us taken up 1 ” 

But all the spectators agreed with him. 

“ It is abominable ! ” cried George. ‘ Let the 
man who said we are Germans stand out and 
speak ; let him come out with me ; let him choose 
sabre, or sword, whatever he likes, it is all the 
same to me.” 

The speaker thus called upon, a youth rose and 
said : “ Pardon me, I apologize ; I thought ” 

“You had no right to think,” said George; 
“such things never should be said. We are 
Alsacians, true Frenchmen, men of mature age ; 
luy companion’s son is at Phalsbourg in the Mo- 
biles, and I have served in the Marines. We 
have been carried away, dragged off by the Ger- 
mans ; we have lost our horses and our carriages, 
and now on arriving here, our own fellow-coun- 
trymen insult us in this way because we have said 
a few words in Alsacian, just as Bretons would 
speak in Breton and Proven 9 als in Proven 9 al.” 

“ I ask your pardon,” repeated the young man. 
“I was in the wrong — I acknowledge it. You 
are good Fi*enchmen.” 


236 


STOBT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


1 forgive you,” said George, scrutinizing him; 
“ but how old are you ? ” 

“ Eighteen.” 

“ Well, go where you ought to be, and show 
that you, too, are as good a Frenchman as we are. 
There are no young men left in Alsace. You 
understand my meaning.” 

Everybody was listening. The young man 
went out, and as cousin was asking for another 
bottle, the landlady whispered to him over his 
shoulder: “You are good Frenchmen; but you 
have spoken before a great many people — stran- 
gers, that I know nothing of. You had better 
go.” 

Immediately, George recovered his senses ; he 
laid a cent-sous piece on the table, the woman 
gave him two francs fifty centimes change, and 
we went out. 

Once out, George said to me : “ Let us step 
out : anger makes a fool of a man.” 

And we set off down one little street, then up 
another, till we came out into the open fields. 
I^ight was approaching; if we had been taken 
again, it would have been a worse business th in 
the first; and we knew that so well, that that 
night and the next day we dared not even enter 
the villages, for fear of being seized and brought 
back to our battalion. 

At last, fatigue obliged us to enter an enclos- 
ure. It was very cold for the season ; but we had 


8T0RT OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 237 

become accustomed to our wretchedness, and we 
slept against a wall, upon a bit of straw matting, 
just as in our own beds. Eising in the morning 
at the dawn of day, we found ourselves covered 
with hoar-frost, and George, straining his eyes in 
the distance, asked : “ Do you know that place 
down there, Christian ? ” 

T looked. 

“ Why, it is Chateau-Salins ! ” 

Ah ! now all was well. At Chateau-Salins 
lived an old cousin, Desjardins, the first dyer in 
the country : Desjardins’ grandfather and ours 
had married sisters before the Revolution. He 
was a Lutheran, and even a Calvinist; we were 
Catholics ; but nevertheless, we knew each other, 
and were fond of each other, as very near rela* 
tions. 


238 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


CHAPTER X. 

We arrived at the door of Jacques Desjarditu 
about seven in the morning ; he had j ust got up, 
and was taking coffee with his wife and his chil- 
dren. 

At the first sight of us, Desjardins stood with 
his mouth wide open, and his wife and his chil- 
dren were preparing for flight, or to call for 
help ; but when I said : “ Good-morning, cousin ; 
it is we,” Desjardins cried : “ Good heavens ! it is 
Christian and George Weber! What has hap- 
pened ? ” 

“ Y es, it is we, indeed, cousin,” said George. 
“ See what a condition the Prussians have brought 
us to.” 

‘‘The Prussians! Ah, the brigands!” said 
Desjardins. “ Lise, send to the butcher for some 
chops — get some wine up. Ah! my poor cous- 
ins. I think you must want to change your 
clothes, too.” 

“ Yes,” said George ; “ and to shave.” 

“Well, come then. While your breakfast is 
getting ready, you will change your shirts and 
clothes. You will put on mine, until yours have 
been washed. Good gracious ! is it possible ? ” 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. ^ 239 

He took us into a beautiful room upstairs ; lie 
opened the linen drawers. Cousin Lise was 
coining to dll our basins with clean warm water. 

“Put on my shoes and stockings, too,” said 
Desjardins. “ Here are my razors. Make your- 
selves comfortable. Ah ! those thieves and 
rogues of Germans ! Did they, indeed, treat you 
in that way — a mayor, and a person of such re- 
spectability ? ” 

Then she left the room, and we began to throw 
off our clothes. The sight of our stockings, our 
neckerchiefs, and our shirts, made this kind old 
father Desjardins groan ; for he was one of the 
best of men. He could hardly believe his eyes, 
and said : “ My poor cousins ! you have had a 
dreadful bad time.” 

Our first business was to get a good wash. 
The nice, clean white shirts were already spread 
open upon the bed ; and I cannot tell you what 
pleasure I experienced in feeling this nice fresh 
linen next to my skin 

After this 1 shaved, while George was recount- 
ing our misfortunes to our cousin, who interrupted 
him at every moment, crying : “ What ! what I 
Did the barbarous creatures carry their cruelty to 
such a point ? Tlien they are bandits indeed ! 
Never has the like been seen ! ” 

I wiped myself dry and comfortable, even to 
behind the ears, and passed the razor to George. 
Our Cousin Desjardins lent me a pair of stock- 


240 * STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

iiigs, trousei's, a blouse, and nice dry shoes. Wt 
were about the same height, and never had I 
been more comfortable in my life. 

Then George dressed ; and just as we were fin- 
ishing, the servant came tapping at the door, to 
announce breakfast ; and we came down full of 
grateful feelings. 

Cousin Lise and the children were waiting to 
embrace us ; for they did not dare come near us 
before, and now they were anxious to excuse 
themselves for having received us so badly. But 
it was natural enough, and we did not feel hurt. 

I need not tell you with what appetites we 
breakfasted. George began again the story of 
our misfortunes for Cousin Lise and the children, 
who were listening with eyes wide open with 
amazement, and cried : “ Is it really possible ? 
How much you must have suffered, and how 
happy you must be now you are safe ! ” 

When we had finished she told us that all this 
was the doing of the Jesuits ; that those people 
had sent abroad evil reports of the Protestants, 
and that now, the Prussians having proved victo- 
rious, they were preaching against Gambetta and 
Garibaldi. She told us that it was those people 
ivho had excited the Emperor to declare war, sup- 
posing that their Society would have nothing to 
lose and everything to gain by it; that if the 
French should conquer, they would crush the 
Lutherans ; and that if the French lost, Chambord 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 241 

would be set up agaiu, to restore to the Pope the 
ancient patrimony of St. Peter. 

Thus spoke Cousin Lise, an elderly woman with 
haij turning gray, and who took a pleasure in 
disc assing these subjects. 

] 5ut George, after emptying his glass, answered 
tha"; the true cause of all our misfortunes was the 
arn y ; that that army was not the army of the 
nat on, but of the Emperor, who bestowed rank, 
hoL ors, pensions, and grants of money ; that the 
iutf. rests of such an army is ever opposed to that 
of X he country and the people, because the army 
wants war, to get promotion ; but the people 
want peace, to work, bring up their children, and 
gain a livelihood. 

Cousin Desjardins agreed with him; and when 
coffee was brought, Lise and her children went 
out. Pipes were lighted, and our cousin told us 
the latest news. 

Desjardins had many books, like most of the 
Protestants, and received newspapers from all 
quarters ; first of all, the Inde^pendance Beige, 
then papers from Cologne, Frankfort, Berne in 
Switzerland, Geneva, and elsewhere. At his age 
— having a son fifty years old — he did not trouble 
himself much now about dyeing or business, and 
spent his time in reading. 

He was therefore a better-informed man than 
we were, and one in whom we could place full 
confidence. It was from him tliat we heard of the 
11 


242 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


splendid defence of Cliateaudun, the landing of 
Garibaldi at Marseilles, and his appointment as 
General of the Army of the Vosges, the march 
of the Bavarians under Yon der Tann upon the 
Loire, and the arrival of the francs-tireurs in our 
mountains, in the direction of Epinal and Baoii 
I’Etape. He read to us that fine proclamation of 
Gambetta to the French people, setting forth the 
high purpose of the inhabitants of Paris, their 
inexhaustible means of defence, the organization 
of the citizens as National Guards, the union and 
harmony of all in this moment of difficulty, and 
the victualling of the city for several months, 
which would raise the spirit of the provinces and 
give them courage to follow so noble an exam- 
ple. 

I still remember this passage, wliich stirred me 
like a trumpet : 

“ Citizens of the departments, this position of 
affairs imposes important duties upon you. The 
first of all is to allow no other occupation what- 
ever to divert your attention from the war — 
from a struggle to the very last extremity ; the 
second is, until peace shall be made, loyally to 
accept the Kepublican power, wliich has sprung 
equally from necessity and from right principle. 
You must have but one thought: to rescue 
France from the abyss into which it has been 
plunged by the Empire. There is no want of 
men: all that is wanting is determination, decis- 


ST0R7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 243 

ion, and continuity in the execution of plans ; 
what we have lost by the disgraceful capitulation 
of Sedan is arras. The whole of the resources of 
our nation had been directed upon Sedan, Metz, 
and Strasbourg; and we might justly conclude 
that by one final and guilty plot, the author of 
all our disasters had schemed, in falling, to de- 
prive ns of all means of repairing the ruin he 
had caused ! ” 

“ He is quite capable,” cried George. “ Yes, 
I am sure the honest man contrived to leave him- 
self a back door into Prussia.” 

Cousin Desjardins continued : “ At this mo- 
ment, thanks to the extraordinary exertions of 
patriotic men, arrangements have been concluded, 
the end and object of which is to draw to our- 
selves all the disposable muskets in all the markets 
of the globe. The difficulty of effecting this 
negotiation was very serious : it is now overcome. 
With regard to equipments and clothing, manu- 
factories and workshops will be multiplied, and 
materials laid under requisition wlierever needed ; 
neither hands nor zeal on the part of workers are 
wanting, nor will money be lacking. All our 
immense resources must be called into play, the 
lethargy of the rural districts shaken into activity, 
partisan warfare spread in all directions. Let us, 
therefore, rise as one man, and suffer death rather 
than submit to the disgrace of a partition of oui 
country.” 


244 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


The enthusiasm of George rose with every sen 
tence. 

“ Good ! good ! ” cried he, “ tliis is speaking ta 
some purpose. Once give the impulse, and the 
object will soon be gained. Our youths will take 
up arms en masse. One victory, only one, and 
all France would rise ; we should fall like hail 
on the backs of the scoundrels ; they would be 
looked out for at every corner in the woods : 
not a man would live to get bac.k again ! ” 

Cousin Desjardins, having folded up his papers, 
said nothing; I, too, was full of my own 
thoughts. 

“And you, cousin,” said I, “have you any con- 
fidence ? ” 

And only after a minute’s silence, and having 
taken a good pinch of snuff, to waken up his 
ideas — for he took snuff, like all the old folks, 
but did not smoke ; after a minute he said : “ No, 
Christian, I have no hope ; but it is not the Ger- 
mans that I fear : they have taken Strasbourg ; 
after a time they will have Metz by starvation — • 
that is already settled. They are besieging Yer- 
dun; Soissons has just fallen into their hands; 
they have invested Paris; they are advancing 
upon Orleans. Well, in spite of all this, it is 
not the Germans that I fear.” 

“ Who then ? ” asked George. 

Without noticing the question, he continued; 
“France is so strong, so brave, so rich, so intelli* 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 24.5 

gent, that in a few months she could have flung 
these barbarians across the Rhine again ; but 
what alarms me, is the enemies in our midst.” 

Nobody is moving,” said I. 

“It is just because no one is moving that the 
Germans are on the Loire,” said he, fixing his 
clear, gray eyes upon me. “ If the question was 
to restore Chambord, Ferdinand Philippe, or even 
Bonaparte IV., you would see all the old coun- 
cillors-general, all the councillors of the arron- 
dissements, all the old prefets, sous-prefets, mag- 
istrates, police inspectors, receivers of taxes, 
comptrollers, gardes generaux^ mayors, and dep- 
uty mayors in the field. No matter which of the 
three, for the principal object is to have a Mon- 
sieur who has crosses, promotions, pensions, and 
perquisites to give : whichever of the lot, it is all 
the same to them; they only want just one such 
man ! These people would move heaven and 
earth for their man : they would put the peasants 
into lines by thousands, they would sing the Mar- 
seillaise, they would shout the ‘ country is in dan- 
ger ! ’ And the bishops, the priests, the cures, 
the vicars, would preach the holy war; France 
would drive the Prussians to the farthest corner 
of Prussia: arms, munitions of war, stores wi>uld 
be found for every day ! But as it is a Republic, 
and as the Republic demands the separation of 
Church and State, free edueation, compulsory 
military service ; as it declares that a^ I must con- 


246 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


tribute to the public good, that a ri(4i fool is not 
a better man than a poor but able man ; and be- 
cause, on this principle, merit would be every- 
thing, and intrigues, and knavery go to the wall, 
they had rather see France dismembered than 
consent to a Kepublic ! What would become of 
the good places of the senators, the peers of 
France, prefects, chamberlains, squires, receivers- 
general, stewards, marshals, influential deputies, 
and bishoj^s under a Eepublic ? They would all 
be put into one basket : and they don’t want that. 
They would rather the King of Prussia than the 
Pepublic, if the King of Prussia would only en- 
gage to keep all the good places for them. Yes, 
in their eyes la jpatrie means lucrative places and 
pensions. It is not the first time that the Ger- 
mans have been relied upon to restore order in 
France. Marie Antoinette had already ceded 
Alsace to Austria, to have her ante-chambers filled 
again with smooth-faced, obsequious old servitors. 
Passing events bring back those times again. 
Formerly the hunters after pensions, the egotists 
who wanted to snap up everything and leave 
nothing for the people, were called nobles ; now 
it is the bourgeois trained by the Jesuits. But 
at that time the chiefs of the Eepublic were re- 
solved upon the triumph of justice. They did 
not leave the functionaries and the generals of 
Louis XYI. at the head of the administrationg 
and of the armies. These great patriots had com- 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 247 

mon sense. They established Republican munici- 
palities in every commune ; they gave the ccm- 
mand of our armies to Republican generals ; they 
restrained the reactionnaires ; and having cleared 
our territory of Germans, they judged those who 
iiad called them in ; and France was saved. 

“ The same thing would happen to-day, in 
spite of all the preparations of Germany, in spite 
of the treason of Bonaparte, who, seeing his dy- 
nasty sacrified by his own incapacity, gave up our 
last army at Sedan to stay the victory of the Re- 
public. 

“Yes, notwithstanding the egotism of this un- 
happy man, we might yet beat the Germans, if 
the Royalists were not at the head of our affairs ; 
but they are everywhere. In Paris, they command 
the National Guard and the army ; in the provin 
ces, they are forming those famous councils- 
general, whence have been drawn the juries to 
acquit Pierre Bonaparte, and who would without 
shame sentence Gambetta to death if they were 
assembled to try him. Instead of helping this 
brave man, this good patriot, to save F ranee, they 
will obstruct him; they will run sticks between 
the spokes of his wheels ; they will hinder him 
from getting the necessary levies ; they will 
damp the enthusiasm of the people. See what 
all these German papers say : they cannot suffici- 
ently abuse Gambetta, who is defending hlscoun- 


248 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


try, nor sufficiently flatter the councris-genera* 
named under the Empire.” 

“But, then,” said George, “must vic surren- 
der?” 

“No,” replied Desjardins. “ Although we are 
sure of heing vanquished, we must show that we 
are still the old race : that its roots are not dead, 
and that the tree will sprout again. If we had 
reeled and fallen under the blow of Sedan, the 
contempt of Europe and of the whole world 
would have covered us forever. The nation has 
risen since. It seems incredible. AV'ithout ar- 
mies, or guns, or muskets, or victuals, or military 
stores, betrayed, surprised, overrun in all direc- 
tions, this nation has risen again ! It defends 
itself! One brave man has been found suffi- 
cient to raise its courage. What other nation 
would have done as much ? I am, therefore, of 
opinion that the struggle must be maintained to 
the end, that the Germans may be made, as it 
were, ashamed of their victory. They have been 
fifty years preparing ; they have hidden them- 
selves from us, to spy upon us in time of peace ; 
they have dissembled their hatred ; they have 
brought their whole power to bear upon us ; they 
have studied the question under every aspect ; 
they threw against us, at the opening of the cam- 
paign, 600,000 men against 220,000 ; they are 
going to atta(;k our raw conscripts with their best 
troops ; they will be five and six against one ; 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 249 

tliey will call Russia to their help if they want it ; 
and then they will proclaim,*^ We are the con- 
querors ! ’ They will not be ashamed to say, ‘ We 
have vanquished France. Now it is we who are 
La Grande Nation ! ’ ” 

“ All that,” said George, “ is possible. But in 
the meantime, we may win a battle ; and, if we 
gain a victory, things will be different. We shall 
gain fresh courage, and the Landwehr who are 
sent against us — almost all fathers of families — 
will ask no better than to return home.” 

“ The Landwehr have not a word to say,” re- 
plied Desjardins : they are not consulted ; those 
fellows march where they are ordered ; they have 
long been subject to military discipline. It is a 
machine : nothing but a machine ; but a machine 
of crushing weight.” 

Then Cousin Desjardins told us that, having 
travelled long in Germany before and after 1848, 
on business, he had seen how these people 
detested us : that they envied us ; that we were 
an offence to them ; that hatred of the French 
was taught in their schools ; that they thought 
themselves our superiors, on account of their 
religion, which is simple and natural ; while ours, 
with all its ceremonies, its Latin chants, its tapers 
and its tinsel, induced them to look upon us as 
an inferior race, like the negroes, who are only 
fond of red, and hang rings in their noses ; that, 
especially, they deemed their women more vir- 
!!♦ 


250 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


tuoiis and more worthy of respect than ours : thin 
they attribute also to their superior religion, 
which keeps them at home, while ours pass their 
time in all sorts of ceremonies, and neglect their 
first duties. 

Desjardins had even had a serious dispute 
upon this subject with a schoolmaster, being un- 
able to hear an open avowal of such an opinion 
of Frenchwomen ; amongst whom we number 
Jeanne d’Arc and other heroines, whose grandeur 
of character German women are unable to com- 
prehend. 

He told us that, from this point of view, the 
Germans, and especially the Prussians, considered 
us Alsacians and Lorrainers as exiles from father- 
land, and unfortunate in being under the domin- 
ion of a debased race kept in ignoranc*e by the 
priests. 

George, on hearing this, became furious, and 
cried that we had more intelligence and more 
sense than all the Germans put together. 

Yes, I believe so, too,” replied Cousin Des- 
jardins ; “only we ought to use it; we ought to 
set up schools everywhere; the lowest French- 
man should be able to read and write our own 
language ; and this is exactly what the lovers of 
good places don’t wish for. If the people had 
been educated, we should have known what was 
going on upon the other side of the Ehine ; we 
should have had national armies, able generals, a 


STORY OF THE PLEBISGITJ. 251 

watchful commissariat, a sound organization, en- 
lightened and conscientious deputies ; we should 
have had all that we are now wanting ; wo should 
not have placed the power of making war or 
peace in the hands of an imbecile ; we should not 
iiave stupidly attacked the Germans, and the Ger- 
mans, seeing us ready to receive them, would 
have been careful not to attack us. All our de- 
feats, all our divisions, our internal troubles, our 
revolutions, our battles and massacres in the 
streets; the transportations, the hatred between 
classes — all this comes of ignorance ; and this 
abominable ignorance is the doing of the selfish 
statesmen who have governed us for seventy 
years. Good sense, justice, and patriotism would 
lead them to inform the people ; they prefei-red 
an alliance with the Jesuits to degi’ade the peo- 
ple ; can any treason be worse ? ” 

George, who had long entertained the same 
view, had nothing to add; but he still argued 
that we might gain a victory, and that then we 
should be saved. 

Cousin Desjardins shook his head, saying: 

Our forces are of too inferior a quality ; Gam- 
oetta will never have time to organize them ; and 
if the traitors thought that he would, they would 
deliver up Metz at once, in order that the second 
German army. Prince Frederick Chailes’, might 
reach the Loire in time to prevent Dur army from 
raising the siege of Paris : for tin n, I think, the 


252 STORY OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 

country? might be saved. But tliis will not come 
to pass. When I saw generals coming out of 
Metz to go and consult the Empress in England, 
I knew that our cause was lost. And then the 
forces of King William are immense. Those 
300,000 Kussians who, as the papers tell us, are 
ready to march upon Constantinople, are only 
waiting the nod of the King of Prussia to start by 
the railways and come to overwhelm us, if the 
Germans don’t think themselves numerous enough 
to vanquish us with 1,200,000 men. The decisive 
opinion of Europe is that there shall be no repub- 
lic in France — no, not at any price ; for, if the 
republic was established here, every monarchy 
would be shaken ; the nations would all follow 
our example, and there would be an end of war ; 
we should have a European confederation ; kings, 
emperors, princes, courtiers, and professional sol- 
diers might all be bowed off the stage. Only 
commerce, iiidustrjq science and arts would be 
thought of ; to be anything, a man would have to 
know something. The talent of drawing up men 
in line to be mown down by cannon and mitrail- 
leuses, would be relegated to the rear ranks ; and 
a hundred years hence, men would hardly believe 
that such things have ever been ; it would be too 
stupid.” 

Desjardins then told us how, in 1830, travel- 
ling about Solingen to buy dye-stuffs, he had 
noticed that the Prussians thought of nothing but 


STORY OF THE PLiSBISCITE. 253 

war. From that very time they exhausted them- 
selves to keep on foot, and ready to march, an 
army of 400,000 disciplined men. Since then, 
after their fusion with the forces of North 
Germany, Bavaria, Wurternberg, and Baden, the 
total would amount to more than a million of 
men, without reckoning the landsturm : com- 
posed, it is true, of men in years, but who have 
all served, and can handle a rifle, load a gun, 
and ride well. 

“ Here, then, is what Monsieur Bonaparte has 
brought upon our shoulders without necessity,” 
said he; “and it is against such a power that 
Gambetta is undertaking to organize in haste the 
youth that are left, and of whom the greater part 
have never served. I confess my hopes are 
small. God grant that I may be mistaken ; but 
I fear that Alsace and Lorraine are for the time 
ingulfed in Germany. The war will continue 
for a time ; treachery will go on working ; and, 
finally, after all our sufferings, messieurs the 
sometime Ministers and councillors-general, the 
former prefets and sous-prefets, the old function- 
aries of every grade, in a word, all the egotists 
will be on the look-out, and will say: ‘Let us 
make an arrangement with Bismarck. Let us 
make peace at the expense of Alsace and Lor- 
raine ; and let us name a king who shall find us 
first-rate places; France will still be rich enough 
to find us salaries and pensions.’ ” 


254 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Thus spoke Cousin Desjardins; and George^ 
growing more and more angry, striking the table 
with his hst, said, What I cannot understand is 
that the English desert us, and that they shovld 
allow the Prussians to extend their territory as 
they like.” 

“ Ah,” said Desjardins, smiling, “the English 
are not what they once were. They have become 
too rich; they cling to their comforts. Their 
great statesmen are no longer Pitts and Chathams, 
wdio looked to the future greatness of their nation 
and took measures to secure it: provided only 
that business prospers from day to day, future 
generations and the greatness of Britain give 
them no concern.” 

“ Just so,” said George. “ If you had sailed, 
as I have done, in the North Sea and the Baltic, 
if you had seen what an enormous maritime 
power North Germany may possibly become in 
a few years, 'with her hundred and sixty leagues 
of sea-coast, her harbors of Dantzig, Stettin, 
Hamburg, and Bremen, wliither the finest rivers 
bring all the best products of Central Europe, all 
kinds of raw material, not only from Germany 
and Poland, but also from Pussia; if you hao 
seen that population of sailors, of traders, which 
increases daily, you would be unable to under- 
stand the indifference of the English. Have 
they lost the use of their eyes? Has the love of 
Protestantism and comfort deprived them of all 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


255 


discernment ? I cannot tell ; but they must see 
tliat if King William and Bismarck want Alsace 
and Lorraine, it is not exactly for the love of us 
Alsacians and Lorrainers, but to bold the course 
of the Bhine from its source in the German 
cantons of Switzerland down to its outfall at 
Botterdam ; and that in holding this great river 
they will control all the commerce of our indus- 
trial provinces and be able to feed the Dutch 
colonies with their produce, which will make 
them the first maritime power on the Continent ; 
and that, to carry out their purpose without being 
molested — whilst the Bussians are attacking Con- 
stantinople, they will install themselves quietly in 
the Dutch ports, as they did in the case of Han- 
over, and will offer ns Belgium, and perhaps even 
something more ! All this is evident.” 

“Ko doubt, cousin,” said Desjardins. “ I also 
believe that every fault brings its own punish 
ment : the English will suffer for their faults, as 
we are doing for ours ; and the Germans, after 
having terrified the world with their ambition, 
will one day be made to rue their cruelty, their 
hypocrisy, and their robberies. God is just! 
But in the meantime, until that day shall arrive, 
we are confiscated, and all our observations a}*e 
useless.” 

And so the conversation went on : I cannot 
remember it entirely, but I have given you the 
substance of it. 


256 


STOBT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 



CHAPTER XI. 

We remained with Cousin Desjardins all that 
day. Cousin Lise had our shirts washed, our 
clothes cleaned, and our shoes dried before thf3 
fire, after having first filled them with hot em- 
bers ; and the next day we took our leave of these 
excellent people, thanking them from the bottom 
of our hearts. 

We were very impatient to see our native place 
again, of which we had had no news for a month ; 
and especially our poor wives, who must have 
supposed us lost. 

The weather was damp ; there were forebodings 
of a hard winter. 

At Dieuze the rumor reached us that Eazaine 
had j ust surrendered Metz, with all his army, his 
flags, his guns, rifles, stores, and wounded, uncon- 
ditionally ! 

The Prussian officers were drinking cham- 
pagne at the inn where we halted. They were 
laughing! George was pale; I felt an oppres- 
sion on my heart. 

Some people who were there, carriers — Ger- 


STORY OF THE PLtlBISGITE, 257 

inaii Jews, who followed their armies with carts, 
to toad them with the clocks, the pots and pans, 
the linen, the furniture, and everything which 
the officers and soldiers sold them after havino: 
pillaged them in our houses — told us how horses 
were given away round' Metz for nothing; that 
Arab horses were sold for a hundred sous, but 
that nobody would have them, horses’ provender 
selling at an exorbitant price ; that these poor 
beasts were eating one another — they devoured 
each other’s hair to the quick, and even gnawed 
the bark off trees to which they were tied ; that 
our captive soldiers dropped down with hunger 
in the ditches by the roadside, and then the 
Prussians abused them for drunkards. We heard, 
also, that the inhabitants of Metz, on hearing the 
terms of capitulation, had meant to rise and put 
Bazaine to death, but that all through the siege 
three mitrailleuses had been placed in front of 
his headquarters, and that he had escaped the 
day before this shameful capitulation was to take 
place. 

All this appeared to us almost impossible. 
Metz surrender unconditionally ! Metz, the 
strongest town in France, defended by an army 
of a hundred thousand well-seasoned troops : the 
last army left to us after Sedan ! 

But it was true, nevertheless ! 

And in spite of all that can be said of the ig- 
norance and the folly of the chiefs, to account for 


258 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


this terrible disaster, I cannot but believe that oui 
honest man gave his orders to the very last ; that 
Bazaine obeyed, and that they did everything to- 
gether. Besides, Bazaine 'went to join him im- 
mediately at Wilhelmshohe, where the cuisine 
was so excellent ; there they reposed after their 
toils, until the opportunity should return of re- 
commencing a campaign after the fashion of the 
2d of December, in which men were entrapped 
by night in their beds, while they were relying 
upon the honest man^s oath ; or in the style of 
the Mexican war, where he ran away, deserting 
the men he had sworn to defend ! In this sort of 
campaign, and if the people continue to have con- 
fidence in such men, as many assert will happen, 
they may begin again some fine morning, and 
once more get hold of the keys of the treasury ; 
they will once more distribute crosses, and salaries, 
and pensions to their friends and acquaintances ; 
and in a few years Bismarck will discover that 
the Germans possess claims upon Champagne and 
Burgundy. 

Well, everything is possible ; we have seen such 
B range things these last twenty years. 

At Fenetrange, through which we passed about 
two o’clock, nothing was known. 

At six in the evening we arrived upon the 
plateau of Metting, near the farm called Donat, 
and saw in the dim distance, two leagues from 
us, Phalsbourg, without its ramparts, and its 


STORY OF THE PLFBISGITE. 


259 


deini-luiies; its church and its streets in ashes! 
The Germans were hidden by the undulations of 
the surrounding country, their cannon were on 
tlie hill-sides, and sentinels were posted behind 
the quarries. 

There was deep silence : not a shot was heard : 
it was the blockade ! Famine was doing quietly 
what the bombardment had been unable to effect. 

Then, with heads bowed down, we passed 
through the little wood on our left, full of dead 
leaves, and we saw our little village of Fothalp, 
three hundred paces behind the orchards and the 
fields ; it looked dead too : ruin had passed over 
it — the requisitions had utterly exhausted it ; 
winter, with its snow and* ice, was waiting at 
every door. 

The mill was working ; which astonished me. 

George and I, without speaking, clasped each 
other’s hands ; then he strode towards his house, 
and I passed rapidly to mine, with a full heart. 

Prussian soldiers were unloading a waggon- 
load of corn under my shed ; fear laid hold of 
me, and I thought, “ Have the wretches driven 
away my wife and daughter ? ” 

Happily Catherine appeared at the door di- 
rectly ; she had seen me coming, and extended 
her arms, crying, “ Is it you, Christian ? Oh 1 
what we have suffered I ” 

She hung upon my neck, crying and sobbing. 


260 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Then came Gredel ; we all clung together, crying 
like children. 

The Prussians, ten paces off, stared at us. A 
few neighbors were crying, “ Here is the old 
mayor come back again ! ” 

At last we entered our little room. I sat 
facing the bed, gazing at the old bed-curtains, 
the branch of box-tree at the end of the alcove, 
the old walls, the old beams across the ceiling, 
the little window-panes, and my good wife and 
my wayward daugliter, whom I love. Every- 
thing seemed to me so nice. I said to myself, 
“We are not all dead yet. Ah ! if now I could 
but see Jacob, I should be quite happy.” 

My wife, with her face buried in her apron be- 
tween her knees, never ceased sobbing, and Gre- 
del, standing in the middle of the room, was 
looking upon us. At last she asked me : “ And 
the horses, and the carts, where are they ? ” 

“ Down there, somewhere near Montmedy.” 

“ And Cousin George % ” 

“ He is with Marie Anne. We have had to 
abandon everything — we escaped together — we 
were so wretched! The Germans would hav^ 
let us die with hunger.” 

“ What ! have they ill-used you, father ? ” 

“ Yes, they have beaten me.” 

“ Beaten you?” 

“ Yes, they tore my beai d — they struck me in 
the face.” 


BTORT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


261 


Gredel, hearing this, went almost beside her- 
self ; she threw a window open, and shaking her 
fist at the Germans outside, she screamed to them, 
“ Ah, you brigands ! You have beaten my father 
— the best of men ! ” 

Then she burst into tears, and came up to kiss 
me, saying, “ They sliall be paid out for all that ! ” 
I felt moved. 

My wife, having become calmer, began to tell 
me all they had suffered : their grief at receiving 
no news of us since the third day after the pas- 
sage of the pedler ; then the appointment of 
Placiard in my place, and the load of requisi- 
tions he had laid upon us, saying that I was a 
Jacobin. 

He associated with none but Germans now; 
he received them in his house, shook hands with 
them, invited them to dinner, and spoke nothing 
but Prussian German. He was now just as good 
a servant of King William as he had been of the 
Empire. Instead of writing letters to Paris to 
get stamp-offices and tobacco- excise-offices, he 
now wrote to Eismarck-Bohlen, and already the 
good man had received large promises of ad- 
vancement for his sons, and son-in-law. He him- 
self was to be made superintendent of something 
or other, at a good salary. 

I listened without surprise ; I was sure of this 
beforehand. 

One thing gave me great pleasure, which was 


262 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


to see the mill-dam full of water : so the chest 
was still at the bottom. And Giedel having left 
the room to get supper, that was the first thing I 
ashed Catherine. 

She answered that nothing had been disturbed : 
that the water had never sunk an inch. Then 1 
felt easy in my mind, and thanked God for 
having saved us from utter ruin. 

The Germans had been making their own 
l^read for the last fortnight ; they used to come 
and grind at my mill, without paying a liard. 
How to get through our trouble seemed impossi- 
ble to find out. There was nothing left to eat. 
Happily the Landwehr had quickly become used 
to our white bread, and, to get it, they wdllingly 
gave up a portion of their enormous rations of 
meat. They would also exchange fat sheep for 
chickens and geese, being tired of always eating 
joints of mutton, and Catherine had driven many 
a good bargain with them. We had, indeed, one 
cow left in the Krapenfelz, but we had to carry 
her fodder every day among these rocks, to milk 
her, and come back laden. 

Gredel, ever bolder and bolder, went herself. 
She kept a hatchet under her arm, and she told 
me smiling that one of those drunken Germans 
having insulted her, and threatened to follow her 
into the wood, she had felled him with one blow 
of her hatchet, and rolled his body into the 
stream. 


,STORr OF THE PLEBISCITE. 263 

Notliing frightened her : the Landwehr who 
lodged with us — hig, bearded men — dreaded her 
like fire ; she ordered them about as if they were 
her servants : “ Do this ! do that ! Grease me 
those shoes, but don’t eat the grease, like your 
fellows at Metting; if you do, it will be the 
worse for you ! Go fetch water ! You .shan’t 
go into the store-room straight out of the stable ! 
yonr smell is already bad enough without horse- 
dung ! You are every one of you as dirty as 
beggars, and yet there is no want of water : go 
and wash at the pump.” 

And they obediently went. 

She had forbidden them to go upstairs, telling 
them, “ I live up there ! that’s my room. The 
first man who dares put his foot there, I will 
split his head open with my hatchet.” 

And not a man dared disobey. 

Those people, from the time they had set over 
us their governor Bismarck-Bohlen, had no doubt 
received orders to be careful with us, to treat us 
kindl}^, to promise us indemnities. Captain Floe- 
gel went on drinking from morning till night, 
from night till morning ; but instead of calling 
us rascals, wretches ! he called us “ his good Ger- 
mans, his dear Alsacian and Lorraine brothers,” 
promising us all the prosperity in the world, as 
soon as we should have the happiness of living 
under the old laws of Fatherland. 

They were already talking of dismissing all 


264 


8T0R7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


French schoolmasters, and then we began to se« 
the abominable carelessness of our government in 
the matter of public education. Half of our un- 
happy peasants did not know a word of French : 
for two hundred years they had been left grovel- 
ling in ignorance ! 

Now the Germans have laid hands upon us, 
and are telling them that the French are enemies 
of their race ; that they have kept them in bon- 
dage to get all they could out of them, to live at 
their cost, and to use their bodies for their own 
protection in time of danger. Who can say it is 
not so ? Are not all appearances against ns ? 
And if the Germans bestow on the peasants the 
education which all our governments have denied 
them, will not these people have reason to attacli 
themselves to their new country ? 

The Germans having altered their bearing to- 
wards us, and seeking to win us over, lodged in 
our houses. They were Landwehr, who thought 
only of their wives and children, wishing for the 
end of the war, and much fearing the appearance 
of the francs-tireurs. 

The arrival of Garibaldi in the Yosges with 
his two sons was announced, and often George, 
pointing from his door at the summit of the 
Donon and the Schneeberg, already white with 
snow, would say: “There is fighting going on 
down there ! Ah, Christian, if we were young 


8T0RT OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


265 


again, what a fine blow we might delivei in our 
mountain passes ! ” 

Our greatest sorrow was to know that famine 
was prevailing in the town, as well as small-pox 
More than three hundred sick, out of fifteen 
hundred inhabitants, were filling the College, 
where the hospital had been established. There 
was no salt, no tobacco, no meat. The flags of 
truce which were continually coming and going 
on the road to Liitzelbourg, reported that tlie 
place could not hold out any longer. 

There had been a talk of bringing heavy guns 
from Strasbourg and from Metz, after the sur- 
render of these two places ; but I remember that 
the Haujptmann who was lodging with the cure, 
M. Daniel, declared that it was not ’worth while ; 
that a fresh bombardment would cost his Majesty 
King William at least three millions; and that 
the best way was to let these people die their noble 
death quietly, like a lamp going out for w^ant of 
oil. With these words the Hau'ptmann put on 
airs of humanity, continually repeating that we 
ought to save human life, and economize ammu- 
nition. 

And what had become of Jacob in the midst 
of this misery? And Jean Baptiste Werner? I 
am obliged to mention him too, for God knows 
what madness was possessing Gredel at the 
thought that he might be suffering hunger : she 


206 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE 


was no longer human ; she was a mad creature 
without control over herself, and she often made 
me wonder at the meek patience of the Landwehr. 
When one or another wanted to ask her for any- 
thing, she would show them the door, crying : 

Go out ; this is not your place ! ” 

She even openly wished them all to be massa- 
cred; and then she would say to them, in mock- 
ery : Go, then ! attack the town ! ... go and 
storm the place ! . . . You don’t dare ! . . . You 
ai’e afi’aid for your skin ! You had rather starve 
people, bombard women and children, burn the 
houses of poor creatures, hiding yourselves be- 
hind your heaps of clay ! You must be cowards to 
set to work tliat way. If ours were out, and 3^011 
were in, they would have been a dozen times 
upon the walls ; but you are afraid of getting 
3'Our ribs stove in ! You are prudent men ! ” 

And thej^, seated at our door, with their heads 
hanging down, spoke not a word, but went on 
smoking, as if they did not hear. 

Yet one day these peaceable men showed a con 
siderable amount of indignation, not against Gre- 
del or us, but against their own generals. 

It was some time after the capture of Metz. 
The cold weather had set in. Our Landwehr re- 
turning from mounting guard were squeezed 
around the stove, and outside lay the first fall of 
snow. And as they were sitting thus, thinking 
of nothing but eating and drinking, the bugle 


STORY OF TUE PLEBISCITE. 


267 


blew outside a long blast and a lond one, the echoes 
of which died far away in the distant mountains. 

An order had arrived to buckle on their knap- 
sacks, shoulder their rifles, and march for Orleans 
at once. 

You should have seen the long, dismal faces of 
these fellows. You should have heard them pro- 
testing that they were Landwehr, and could not 
be made to leave German provinces. I believe 
that if there had been at that moment a sortie of 
fifty men from Phalsbourg, they would have giv- 
en themselves up prisoners, every one, to remain 
where they were. 

But Captain Floegel, with his red nose and his 
harsh voice, had come to give the word of com- 
mand, “ Fall in ! ” 

They had to obey. So there they stood in line 
before our mill, three or four hundred of them, 
and ’were then obliged to march up the hill to 
Mittelbronn, whilst the villagers, from their win- 
dows, were crying, “ A good riddance ! ” 

It was supposed, too, that the blockade of Phals- 
bourg would be raised, and everybody was pre- 
paring baskets, bags, and all things needful to 
carry victuals to our poor lads. Gredel, who 
was most unceremonious, liad her own private 
basket to carry. It was quite a grand removal. 

But where did this order to march come from ? 
W'hat was the meaning of it all ? 

I was standing at our door, meditating upon 


268 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


this, when Cousin Marie Anne came up, whisper 
ing to me, “We have Avon a great battle : all the 
men at Metz are running to the Loire.” 

“ How do you knoAV that, cousin ? ” 

“ From an Englishman Avho came to our house 
last night.” 

“ And where has this battle taken place?” 

“ Wait a moment,” said she. “ At Coulmiers^ 
near Orleans. The Germans are in full retreat ; 
their officers are taking refuge in the mayoralty 
office with their men, to escape being slaugh- 
tered.” 

I asked no more questions, and I ran to Cousin 
George’s, very curious to see this Englishman and 
to hear what he might have to tell us. 

As I Avent in, my cousin was seated at the 
table with this foreigner. They had just break- 
fasted, and they seemed very jolly together. 
Marie Anne followed me. 

“ Here is my cousin, the former mayor of this 
village,” said George, seeing me open the door. 

Immediately the Englishman turned round. 
He was a young man of about five and thirty, 
tall and thin, with a hooked nose, hazel eyes full 
of animation, clean shaved, and buttoned up close 
in a long gray surtout. 

“ Ah, very good ! ” said he, speaking a little 
nasally, and Avith his teeth close, as is the habit of 
his countrymen. “ Monsieur was mayor ? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 


STOBY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 269 

“ And you refused to post the proclamations 
of the Governor, Bismarck-Bohlen ? ” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“ Very good — very good.” 

I sat down, and, without any preamble, this 
Englishman ran on with eight or ten questions * 
upon the requisitions, the pillaging, the number of 
carriages and horses carried away into the inte- 
rior; how many had come back since the inva- 
sion ; how many were still left in France ; what 
we thought of the Germans ; if there was any 
chance of our agreeing together : had we rather 
remain French, or become neutral, like the Swiss. 

He had all these questions in his head, and I 
went on answering, without reflecting that it was 
a very strange thing to interrogate people in this 
way. 

George was laughing, and, when it was over, 
he said,. “ How, my lord, you may go on with 
your article.” 

The Englishman smiled, and said, “Yes, that 
will do ! I believe you have spoken the truth.” 

We drank a glass of wine together, which 
George had found somewhere. 

“ This is good wine,” said the Englishman. 
“ So the Prussians ha\ e not taken everything.” 

“ Ho, they have not discovered everything ; we 
have a few good hiding-places yet.” 

“ Ah ! exactly so — yes — I understand.” 

George Tvanted to question him too, but the 


270 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Englishman did not answer as fast as we; he 
thought well ovei liis answers, before he would 
say yes or no ! 

It was not from him that Cousin George had 
learned the latest intelligence ; it was from a heap 
of newspapers which the Englishman had left 
upon the table the night before as he went to 
bed — English and Belgian newspapers — wliich 
George had read hastily up to midnight : for lie 
had learned English in his travels, which our 
friend vras not aware of. 

Besides the battle of Coulmiere, he had learned 
many other things : the organization of an army 
in the North under General Bourbaki ; the march 
of the Germans upon Dijon ; the insurrection at 
Marseilles ; the noble declaration of Gambetta 
against those who were accusing him of throwing 
the blame of our disasters upon the army, and not 
upon its chiefs ; and especially the declaration of 
Prince Gortschakoff “ that the Emperor of Russia 
refused to be bound any longer by the treaty 
which was to restrain him from keeping in the 
Black Sea more than a certain number of larjre 
ships of war.” 

The Englishman had mai’ked red crosses down 
this article ; and George told me by and by that 
these red crosses meant something very serious. 

The Englishman had a very fine horse in the 
stable ; we went out together to see it ; it was a 
tall chestnut, able no doubt to run like a deer. 


JSTOMY OF THE PLEBISCITE . 


271 


If I tell you these particulars, it is because we 
have since seen many more English people, both 
men and women, all very inquisitive, and who 
put questions to us, just like this one ; whether to 
write articles, or for their own information, I 
know not. 

George assured me that the article writers 
spared no expense to earn their pay honorably ; 
that they went great distances — hundreds of 
leagues — going to the fountain-head ; that they 
would have considered themselves guilty of rob- 
bing their fellow-countrymen, if they invented 
anything : which, besides, would very soon be 
discovered, and would deprive them of all credit 
in England. 

I believe it ; and I only wish news-hunters of 
equal integrity for our country. Instead of hav- 
ing newspapers full of long arguments, which 
float before you like clouds, and out of which no 
one can extract the least profit, we should get 
positive facts that would help us to clear up our 
ideas : of which we are in great need. 

So we thought we were rid of our Landwehi-, 
when presently they returned, having received 
counter orders, which seemed to us a very bad sign. 

George, who had just accompanied his English- 
man back to Sarrebourg, came into our house, 
and sat by the stove, deep in thought. He had 
never seemed to me so sad; when I asked him if 
he had received any bad news, he answered : 


272 


8T0BT OF TEE PLEBISGIIE. 


“ No, 1 have heard nothing new ; but what haa 
happened shows plainly that the German army 
of Metz has arrived in time to prevent our troops 
from raising the blockade of Paris after the vic- 
tory of Coulmiers.” 

And all at once his anger broke out against 
the Dumouriez and the Pichegrus, men without 
genius, who were selling their country to serve a 
false dynasty. 

‘‘ A week or a fortnight more, and we should 
have been saved.” 

He smote the table with his fist, and seemed 
ready to cry. All at once he went out, unable 
to contain himself any longer, and we saw him in 
the moonlight cross the meadow behind and dis- 
appear into his house. 

It was the middle of November; the frost 
grew more intense and hardened the ground 
everywhere: every morning the trees were cov- 
ered with hoar-frost. 

We were now compelled to do forced labor ; 
not only to supply wood, but also to go and cleave 
it for the Landwehr. I paid Father Oft’ran, who 
supplied my place ; it was an additional expense, 
and the day of ruin, utter ruin, was drawing 
close. 

Of course the Landwehr, offended at having 
been hissed all through the village, had lost all 
consideration for us, and but for stringent orders, 
they would have wrung our necks on the spot : 


STOMY OF THE PL£jBI8GITE. 


273 


ev(‘ry time they were able to tell us a piece of 
bad news, they would come up laughing, drop- 
ping the butt-ends of their rifles on the stone 
floor, and crying : “ Well, now, here’s another 
crash I There goes another stampede of French- 
men ! Orleans evacuated ! Champigny to be 
abandoned ! Capital ! all goes on right ! Kow, 
then, you people, is that soup ready? Hurry! 
good news like these give one a good appetite ! ” 

“ Try to hold your tongues, if you can, pack of 
beggare,” cried Gredel ; “ we don’t believe your 
lies.” 

Then they grinned again, and said : “ There is 
no need you should believe us, if only you get 
put into our basket ; when you are there you will 
believe! Then look out! If you stir a finger 
we’ll nail you to the wall like mangy cats. 
Aha ! did you laugh and hiss when you saw us 
going? but there are more yet to come. You 
will regret us. Mademoiselle Gredel; you will 
i-egret us some day ; you will cry, ‘ if we had but 
our good Landwehr again!’ but it will be too 
late.” 

What surprises me is that Gredel never seems 
to have thought of poisoning them ; luckily it 
was not the time of the year for the red toad- 
stools : besides, we were obliged to boil our soup 
in the same kettle ; or these wary people would 
have had their suspicions, and obliged us to taste 
their meat, as they did at the Quatre Yents, the 
12 * 


274 


8T0BT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Baraques du Bois de Cbenes, and in several otheJ 
places. 

They then drew their lines closer and closer 
round the place : upon all the roads which led to 
the advanced posts they placed guns, and watched 
by them day and night; they regulated their 
range and line of fire by day with pickets and 
with grooves cut in the ground, to enable them to 
change its direction and sweep the roads and 
paths, even in the dark nights, in case of an at- 
tack. 

The snow was then falling in great fiakes ; all 
the country was covered with snow, and often at 
midnight or at one or two in the morning, the 
musketry opened, and they cried in the street : 
“ A sortie ! a sortie ! ” 

And all the villagers, who still kept their cattle 
at home by order of the new mayor Placiard, 
were compelled to drive them to a distance, into 
the fields, to prevent the French, if they reached 
us, from finding anything in the stables. 

Ah ! that abominable, good-for-nothing scoun- 
drel Placiard, that famous pillar of the Empire, 
what abominations he has perpetrated, what toils 
lias he undergone to merit the esteem of the 
Prussians ! 

Does it not seem sad that such thieves should 
sometimes quietly terminate their existence in a 
good bed ? 


STOUT OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 


275 


CHAPTER XII. 

About the end of November there happened 
an extraordinary^ thing, of which I must give you 
an account. 

On the first fall of snow, our Landwehr had 
built on the hill, in the rear of their guns, huts of 
considerable size, covered with earth, open to the 
south and closed against the north wind. Under 
these they lighted great fires, and every hour re- 
lieved guard. 

They had also received from home immense 
packages of warm clothing, blankets, cloaks, shirts, 
and woollen stockings; they called these love- 
gifts. Captain Floegel distributed these to his 
men, at his discretion. 

Xow, it happened that one night, when the 
Landwehr lodging with us were on guard, that I, 
knowing they would not return before day, had 
gone down, to shut the back door which opens 
upon the fields. The moon had set, but the snow 
was shining white, streaked with the dark shadows 
of the trees ; and just as I was going to lock up, 
what do I see in my orchard behind the large 


276 8T0RT OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 

pear-tree on the left? A Turco witli his little 
red cap over liis ear, his blue jacket corded and 
braided all over, his belt and his gaiters. There 
he was, leaning in the attitude of attention, the 
butt end of his rifle resting on the ground, his 
eyes glowing like those of a cat. 

He heard the door open, and turned abruptly 
round. 

Then, glad to see one of our own men again, I 
felt my heart beat, and gazing stealthily round 
for fear of tlie neighbors, I signed to him to draw 
near. 

All were asleep in the village ; no lights w^ere 
shining at the windows. 

He came down in four or five paces, clearing 
the fences at a bound, and entered the mill. 

Immediately I closed the door again, and said : 
“ Good Frenchman ? ” 

He pressed my hand in the dark, and followed 
me into the back room, where my wife and Gre- 
del were still sitting up. 

Imagine their astonishment ! 

“ Here is a man from the town,” I said : “ he’s 
a real Turco. We shall hear news.” 

At the same moment we observed that the 
Turco’s bayonet was red, even to the shank, and 
that the blood had even run down the barrel of 
his rifle ; but we said nothing. 

This Turco was a fine man, dark browm, with a 
little curly beard, black eyes, and white teeth, just 


STORY OF THE PLilBISCJTE. 277 

as tlie apostles are painted. I have never seen a 
finer man. 

He was not sorry to feel the warmth of a good 
fire. Gredel having made room for him, he 
took a seat, thanking her with a nod of his head, 
and repeating : Good Frenchman ! ” 

I asked him if he was hungry; he said yes; 
and my wife immediately went to fetch him a 
large basin of soup, which he enjoyed greatly. 
She gave him also a good slice of bread and of 
beef ; but instead of eating it he dropped it into 
his bag, asking us for salt and tobacco. 

He spoke as these people all do — thou-ing us. 
He even wanted to kiss Gredel’s hand. She 
blushed, and asked him, without any ceremony, 
before our faces, if he knew Jean Baptiste Wer- 
ner? 

“ Jean Baptiste ! ’’ said he. “ Bastion Ho. 3 — 
formerly African gunner. Yes, I know him. 
Good man ! brave Frenchman ! ” 

“ He is not wounded ? ” 

“ Ho.” 

“Hot ill?” 

“Ho.” 

Then Gredel began to cry in her apron ; and 
mother asked the Turco if he knew Jacob Weber, 
of the 3d company of Mobiles; but the Turco 
did not know our Jacob ; he could only tell us 
that the Mobiles had lost very few men, which 
comforted my wife and me. Then he told ua 


278 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


that a captain in the Garae Mobile, a Jew named 
Cerfber, sent as a flag of truce to Liitzelbourg, 
had taken the opportunity to desert, and that the 
German general, being disgusted at his baseness, 
had refused to receive him, upon which the 
wretch had gone into Germany. I was nowise 
surprised at this. I knew Cerfber ; he was mayor 
of Niederwillen, at four leagues from us, and 
more Bonapartist than Bonaparte himself. Un- 
able to surrender the rest, as his master had done 
at Sedan, he had surrendered himself. 

Gredel had gone out while the Turco was tell- 
ing us these news ; she returned presently with a 
large quantity of provisions. She had taken all 
my tobacco, and begged the Turco to take it to 
Jean Baptiste and Jacob. She had not quite the 
face to say before me that it was for Jean Bap- 
tiste alone ; that would have been going a little 
too far ; but she said, “ It is for the two.” The 
Turco promised to perform this commission ; then 
Gredel gave him several things for himself ; but 
he wanted especially salt, and fortunately we pos- 
sessed enough to All his bag. My wife stood sen- 
tinel in the passage. Thank God there was no 
stir for a whole hour; during which this Turco 
answered, as well as he was able, all the questions 
we asked him. 

We understood that there was much sickness 
in the town ; that several articles of consumption 
were utterly exhausted, among others, meat, salt, 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


2Y9 


and tobacco ; and that the inhabitants were weary 
of being shut in without ai^y news from outside. 

About one in the morning, the wind, having 
risen, was shaking the door, and we fancied wc 
could hear the Landwehr returning. The Turco 
noticed it, and made signs to us that he would 

go. 

We could have wished to detain him, but the 
danger was too great. He therefore took up his 
rifle again, and asked to kiss my wife’s hand, just 
as the gipsies do in our country. Then pointing 
to his bag, he said: “For Jacob and Jean Bap- 
tiste ! ” 

I took him back through the orchard. The 
weather was frightful ; the air was full of snow, 
whirled into drifts by a stormy wind ; but he 
knew his way, and began by running with his 
body bending low as far as the tall hedge on the 
left ; a moment after he was out of sight. I lis- 
tened a long while. The watch-fires of the Land- 
wehr were shining on the hill, above Wdchem; 
their sentinels were challenging and answering 
each other in the darkness ; but not a shot was 
fired. 

I returned. My wife and Gredel seemed 
happy ; and we all went to bed. 

Next day we learned that two Landwehr had 
been found killed — one near the Avenue des 
Dames, between the town and the Quatre Vents, 
the other at the end of Fiquet, both fathers of 


280 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


families. The unfortunate men had been sur 
prised at their posts. 

What a miserable thing is war ! The Germans 
have lost more men than we have ; but we will 
not be so cruel as to rejoice over this. 

And now, if I am asked my opinion about the 
Turcos, against whom the Germans have raised 
such an outcry, I answer that they are good men 
and true ! Jacob and Jean Baptiste have re- 
ceived everything that we sent to them. This 
Turco’s word was worth more than that of the 
lieutenant and the feld-weibel who had promised 
to pay me for my wine. 

hTo doubt, amongst the Turcos there are some 
bad fellows ; but the greater part are honest men, 
with a strong feeling of religion : men who have 
known them at Phalsbourg and elsewhere ac- 
knowledge them to be men of honor. They have 
stolen nothing, robbed nobody, never insulted a 
woman. If they had campaigned on the other 
side of the Bhine, of course they would have 
twisted the necks of ducks and hens, as all sol- 
diers do in an enemy’s country : the Landwehr 
put no constraint upon themselves in our country. 
But the idea would never have occurred to the Tur- 
cos, as it had to German officers and generals, of 
sending for packs of Jews to follow them and buy 
up, wholesale, the linen, furniture, clocks — in a 
word, anything they found in private individuals’ 
houses. This is simple truth ! Monsieur de Bis- 


STORY OF THE PLtJBISCITE. 


2S1 


marck may insult the Tnrcos as much as ho 
pleases before his German Parliament, which is 
ready to say Amen ” every time he opens his 
month. He might as well not talk at all. Thieves 
are bad judges of common honesty ! I am aware 
lhat Monsieur le Prince de Bismarck thinks him- 
self the first politician in the world, because he 
has deceived a simpleton ; but there is a wide dif- 
ference between a great man and a great dishon- 
est man. By and by this will be manifest, to the 
great misfortune of Europe. 

But it was a real comfort to have seen this 
Turco; and for several days, when we were 
alone, my wife and Gredel talked of nothing 
else ; but sad reflections again got the upper 
hand. 

No one can form an idea of the miseiy, the 
feeling of desolation which takes possession of 
you, when days and weeks pass by in the midst 
of enemies without the least word reaching you 
from the interior ; then you feel the strength of 
the hold that your native land has upon you. 
The Germans think to detach us from it by pre- 
venting us from learning what is taking place 
there; but they are mistaken. The less you 
speak the more ^^ou think ; and your indignation, 
your disgust, j^our hatred for violence, force, and 
injustice is ever on the increase. You conceive a 
horror for those who have been the cause of such 
Bufferings. Time Ij rings no change ; on the con* 


282 STORY OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 

trarj, it deepens the wound : one curse succeeds 
another ; and the deepest desire left is either foj 
an end of all, or vengeance. 

Besides, it is perfectly evident the Lorrainers 
and the Alsacians are a bold, brave nation ; and 
all the fine words in the world will not make 
them forget the^ treatment they have suffered, 
after being surprised defenceless. They would 
reproach themselves as cowards, did they cease 
to hope for their revenge. I, Christian Weber, 
declare this, and no honest man can blame me 
for it. Abject wretches alone accept injustice as 
a final dispensation ; and we have ever God over 
us all, who forbids us to believe that murder, 
fire, and robbery may and ought to prevail over 
right and conscience. 

Let us return to our story. 

Cousin George had seen in the Englishman’s 
newspapers that the circulation of the Indepen- 
dance Beige and the Journal de Geneve had 
doubled and trebled since the commencement of 
the war, because they filled the place of all the 
other journals which used to be received from 
Paris ; and without loss of time he had written 
to Brussels to subscribe. 

The first week, having received no answer, he 
had sent the money in Prussian notes in a second 
letter; for we had at that time only Prussian 
thalers in paper, with which the Landwehr paid 
us for whatever they did not take by force. We 


STORY OF THE PLilBISCITR. 


283 


had no great confidence in this paper, but it was 
worth the trial. 

The newspaper arrived. It was the first we 
had seen for four months, and any one may un 
derstand the joy with which George came to tell 
me this good news. 

Every evening from that time I went to hear 
the newspapers read at Cousin George’s. We 
could hardly understand anything at first, for at 
every line we met with new names. Chanzy had 
the chief command upon the Loire, Faidherbe in 
the north. And these two men, without any 
soldiers besides Mobiles and volunteers, held the 
open country. They even gained considerable 
advantages over an enemy that far outnumbered 
them; whilst the marshals of the Empire had 
sufPered themselves to be vanquished and anni- 
hilated in three weeks, witli our best troops. 

This shows that, in victories, generals have no 
more than lialf the credit. 

Of all the old generals, Bourbaki was the 
only one left. 

As for Gafibaldi, we knew him, and we could 
tell by the restless movements of our Landwehr 
that he was approaching our mountains about 
Belfort. He was the hope of our country: all 
our young men were going to join him. 

We also learned that the Government was 
divided between Tours and Paris ^ thatGambetta 
was bearing all the burden of the defence of the 


284 STORY OF THE PLTjBISGITE. * 

country, as Minister of War ; that he was every* 
where at once, to encourage the dispirited ; that 
he had set up the chief place of instruction for 
our young soldiers at Toulouse, and that the 
Prussians were pursuing their horrible course in 
. the invaded countries with renewed fury ; that a 
party of francs-tireurs having surprised a few 
Uhlans at Xemours, a column of Germans had 
surrounded the town on the next day, and set 
fire to it to the music of their bands, compelling 
the members of the committee for the defence to 
be present at this abominable act; that M. de 
Bismarck had laid hands upon certain bourgeois 
of the interior, in reprisal for the captures made 
by our ships five hundred leagues away in the 
North Sea ; that Picciotti Garibaldi, having de- 
feated the Prussians at Chatillon-sur-Seine, those 
atrocious wretches had delivered the innocent 
town over to plunder, and laid it under contribu- 
tion for a million of francos; that respectable 
persons belonging to the Grand Duchy of Baden, 
private individuals, were crossing the Bhine with 
horses and carts to come and pillage Alsace with 
impunity — all the towns and villages being 
occupied by their troops. In a word, many 
other things of the kind ; wh‘ch plainly prove 
that with the Prussians, war is an honest means 
of growing rich, and getting possession of the 
property of the inoffensive inhabitants. 

At St. Quentin, one of their chiefs, the Colonel 


STORY OF THE PL£:BIS0ITE. 


285 


de Kalilden, gave public notice to the inhabi- 
tants, that ‘‘ if a shot was fired upon a German 
soldier, six inhabitants should be shot / and thal 
every individual compromised oy susjpected 
be punished with death.” 

Everywhere, everywhere these great philoso- 
phers plundered and burned without mercy what- 
ever towns or villages dared resist ! 

George said that these beings were not raised 
above the beasts of prey, and that education only 
does for them wliat spiked collars do for fighting 
dogs. 

We also heard of the capitulation of Thion- 
ville, after a terrible bombardment, in which the 
Prussians had refused to allow the w'ornen and 
children to leave the place ! We heard of the 
first encounters of Faidlierbe in the north with 
Manteuffel; and the battles of Chanzy with 
Frederick Charles, near Orleans. 

In spite of the inferiority of our numbers, and 
the inexperience of our troops, we often got the 
U 2 )per hand. 

These news had restored us to hope. Unhap- 
pily, the lieaviest blow of all was to come. Phals- 
bourg, utterly exhausted by famine, was about to 
surrender, after a resistance of five months. 

Oh ! my ancient town of Phalsbourg, what 
affliction sank into our hearts, when, on the even- 
ing of the 9th December, we heard your heavy 
guns fire one after another, as if for a last ap 2 )eal 


286 ST0R7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

to France to come to your rescue! Oh! whal 
were then our sufferings, and what tears we shed ! 

“hTow,” said George, “ it is all over 1 They are 
calling aloud to France, our beloved France, un- 
able to come ! It is like a sliip in distress, by 
night, in the open sea, firing her guns for assist- 
ance, and no one hears : she must sink in the 
deep.” 

Ah ! my old town of Phalsbourg, where we 
used to go to market ; where we used to see our 
own soldiers — our red-trousered soldiery, our 
merry Frenchmen 1 We shall never more see be- 
hind our ramparts any but heavy Germans and 
rough Prussians 1 And so it is over ! The earth 
bears no longer the same children ; and men 
whom we never knew tell us, ‘‘You are in our 
custody : we are ^mur masters I ” 

Can it be possible ? Ho 1 ancient fortress of 
Vauban, you shall be French again: “Nursery 
of brave men,” as the first Bonaparte called you. 
Let our sons come to manhood, and they shall 
drive from thy walls these lumpish fellows who 
dare to talk of German izing you ! 

. But how our hearts bled on that day ! Every 
one went to hide himself as far back in his house 
as he could, murmuring, “ Oh ! my poor Phals- 
bourg, we cannot help thee ; but if our life could 
deliver thee, we would give it.” 

Yes ! I have lived to behold this, and it is the 
most terrible sensatkm I have ever experienced : 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


287 


the thought of meeting Jacob again was no com- 
fort ; Gredel herself was listening with pale 
cheeks, and counting the reports from second to 
second ; and then the tears fell and she cried : “ It 
is over ! ” 

^ lN"ext day, all the roads were covered with Ger- 
man and Prussian officers galloping rapidly to the 
jplace ; the report ran that the entry would take 
place the same evening ; every one was prepar- 
ing a small stock of provisions for his son, his re- 
lations, his friends, whom he dreaded never more 
to see alive. 

On the morning of the 11th of December, 
leave was given to start for the town ; the senti- 
nels posted at Wechem had orders to allow foot- 
passengers to pass. 

Phalsbourg, with its fifteen hundred Mobiles 
and its sixty gunners, disdained to capitulate ; it 
surrendered no rifles, no guns, no military stores, 
no eagles, as Bazaine had done at Metz ! The 
Commander Taillant had not said to his men : 
“Let us, above all, for the reputation of our army, 
avoid all acts of iiidisciifline, such as the destruc- 
tion of arms and material of war ; since, accord- 
ing to military usage, strong places and arms will 
return to France when peace is signed.’’ No ! 
quite the contrary ; he had ordered the destruc- 
tion of whatever might prove useful to the enemy : 
to drown the gunpowder, smash rifles, spike the 
guns, burn up the bedding in the casemates ; and 


288 


STORY OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 


when all this was done, he had sent a message tc 
the German general : “ We have nothing left to 
eat ! To-morrow I will open the gates I Bo 
what you please with me ! ” 

Here was a man, indeed ! 

And the Germans ran, some laughing, others 
astonished, gazing at the walls which they had 
won without a fight : for they have taken almost 
every place without fighting ; they have shelled 
the poor inhabitants instead of storming the walls ; 
they have starved the people. They may boast 
of having bmuit more towns and villages, and 
killed more women and children in this one cam- 
paign, than all the other nations in all the wars 
of Europe since the Revolution. 

But, to be sure, they were a religious people, 
much attached to the doctrines of the Gospel, 
and who sing hymns with much feeling. Their 
Emperor especially, after every successive bom- 
bardment, and every massacre — whilst women, 
children, and old men are weeping around their 
houses destroyed by the enemy’s shells, and from 
the battle-fields strewn with heaps of dead are 
rising the groans and cries of thousands and 
thousands of sufferers whose lives are crushed, 
whose flesh is torn, whose bodies are rent and 
bleeding ! — their Emperor, the venerable man, 
lifts his blood-stained hands to heaven and thanks 
God for having permitted him to commit these 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 289 

abominable deeds ! Does he look upon God as 
his accomplice in crime ? 

Barbarian! one day thou shalt know that in 
the sight of the Eternal, hypocrisy is an aggrava- 
tion of crime. 

On the 11th of December, then, early in the 
morning, my wife, Gredel, Cousin George, Marie 
Anne and myself, having locked up our houses, 
started, each carrying a little parcel under our 
arms, to go and embrace our children and our 
friends — if they yet survived. 

The snow was melting, a thick fog was covering 
the face of the country, and we walked along in 
single file and in silence, gazing intently upon 
the German batteries which we saw for the first 
time, in front of Wechem, by Gerbershoff farm, 
and at the Arhre Vert. 

Such desolation! Everything was cut down 
around the town ; no more summer-arbors, no 
more gardens or orchards, only the vast, naked 
surface of snow-covered ground, with its hollows 
all bare ; the bullet marks on the ramparts, the 
embrasures all destroyed. 

A great crowd of other village people preceded 
and followed us ; poor old men, women, and a few 
children ; the 3 ^ were walking straight on without 
pajnng any attention to each other : all thought 
of the fate of those they loved, which they would 
learn within an hour. 

Thus we arrived at the gate of France ; it stood 

13 


290 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

Open and unguarded. The moment we entered, 
the ruins were seen ; houses tottering, streets de* 
molished, here a window left alone, tliere up in 
the air a chimnev scarcely supported ; farther on 
some door-steps and no door. In every direction 
the bombshells had left their tracks. 

God of heaven ! did we indeed behold such 
devastation? we did in truth. We all saw it: it 
was no dream ! 

The cold was piercing. The townspeople, 
haggard and pale, stared at us arriving ; recogni- 
tions took place, men and women approached and 
took each other by the hand. 

“ Well ? ” “ Well,” was the reply in a hollow 

whisper, in the midst of the street encumbered 
with blackened beams of wood. ‘‘ Have you suf- 
fered much ? ” “ Ah ! yes.” 

This was enough : no need for another word ; 
and then we would proceed farther. At every 
street corner a new scene of horror began. 

Catherine and I were seeking Jacob ; no doubt 
Gredel was looking for Jean Baptiste. 

We saw our poor Mobiles passing by, scarcely 
recognizable after those five months. All through 
the fearful cold these unhappy men had had 
nothing on but their summer blouses and linen 
trousers. Many of them might have escaped and 
gained their villages, for the gates had stood open 
since the evening before ; but not a man thought 


STORY OF THE PLFBISGITE. 


291 


of doing so; it was not supposed tliat Mobiles 
would be treated like regular soldiers. 

On the place ^ in front of the fallen church 
tilled with its own ruins, we lieard, for the first 
time, that the garrison were prisoners of war. 

The cafes Yacheron, Meyer, and Hoffmann, 
riddled with balls, were swarming with officers. 

We were gazing, not knowing whom to ask 
after Jacob, when a cry behind us made us turn 
round ; and there was Gredel in the arms of Jean 
Baptiste Werner ! Then I kept silence ; my wife 
also. Since she would have it so, well, so let it 
be ; this matter concerned her much more than it 
did us. 

Jean Baptiste, after the first moment, looked 
embarrassed at seeing us ; he approached us with 
a pale face, and as we spoke not a word to him, 
George shook him by the hand, and cried : 
“ Jean Baptiste, I know that you have behaved 
well during this siege ; we have learned it all 
with pleasure : didn’t we, Christian ? didn’t we, 
Catherine % ” 

What answer could we make ? I said “ yes ” 
— and mother, with tears in her eyes, cried: 
‘‘Jean Baptiste, is Jacob not wounded?” 

“No, Madame Weber; we have always be(U) 
very comfortable together. There is nothing the 
matter. I’ll fetch him : only come in some- 
where. 

“ We are going to the Cafe Hoffmann,” said 


292 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


she. “ Try to find him, Jean Baptiste/’ And as 
he was turning in the direction of the mayoralty- 
house : 

“ There,” said he, ‘‘ there he is coming round 
the corner by the chemist Rebe’s shop. And we 
began to cry “ Jacob ! ” 

And our lad ran, crossing the 'place. 

A minute after, we were in each other’s arms. 

He had on a coarse soldier’s cloak, and canvas 
trousers ; his cheeks were hollow ; he stared at 
us, and stammered: “Oh, is it you? You are 
not all dead ? ” 

He looked stupefied ; and his mother, holding 
him, murmured : “ It is he ! ” 

She would not relinquish her hold upon him, 
and wiped her eyes with her apron. 

Gr^del and Jean Baptiste followed arm-in-arm, 
with George and Marie Anne. We entered the 
Cafe Hoffmann together; we sat round a table 
in the room at the left, and George oi’dered some 
coffee, for we all felt the need of a little warmth. 

Hone of us wished to speak ; we were down- 
cast, and held each other by the hand, gazing in 
each other’s faces. 

The young officers of the Mobiles were talking 
together in the next room ; we could hear them 
saying that not one would sign the engagement 
not to serve again daring the campaign; that 
they would all go as prisoners of war, and would 
accej)t no other lot than that of their men. 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


293 


This idea of seeing our Jacob go off as a 
prisoner of war, almost broke our hearts, and my 
wife began to sob bitterly, with her head upon 
the table. 

Jacob would have wished to come back to the 
mill along with us ; I could see this by his coun- 
tenance ; but he was not an officer, and hi^jparole 
was not asked for. And, in spite of all, hearing 
those spirited young men, who were sacrificing 
their liberty to discharge a duty, I should myself 
have said “ No : a man must be a i lan ! ” 

Werner was talking with my cousin : they 
spoke in whispers ; having, no doi bt, secret mat- 
ters to discuss. I saw George slip something into 
his liand. What could it be ? I cannot say ; but 
all at once Jean Baptiste rising fi\>m his seat and 
kissing Gredel without any ceremony before our 
faces, said that he was on service ; that he would 
not see us again very soon, as after the muster 
their march would begin, so that we should have 
to say good-by at once. 

He held out both his hands to my wife and 
then to Marie Anne, after which he went out 
with George and Gredel, leaving us much aston- 
ished. 

Jacob and Marie Anne remained with us ; in 
a couple of minutes Gredel and my cousin re- 
turned: Gredel, whose eyes were red, sat by the 
side of Marie Anne without speaking, and we 
saw that her basket of provisions was gone. 


294 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE, 


The stii- upon the place became greater and 
greater. The drums beat the assembl}^, the offi- 
cers of the Mobiles were coming out. I then 
tlionght I would ask Jacob what had become ol 
Mathias Heitz ; he told us that the wretched cow- 
ard had been trembling with fright the whole 
time of the siege, and that at last he had fallen 
ill of fear. Gredel did not turn her head to lis- 
ten; she would have nothing to do with him! 
And, in truth, on hearing this, I felt I should pre- 
fer giving our daughter to our ragman’s son than 
to this fellow Mathias. 

The review was then commencing under the 
tall trees on iha place, and Jacob appeared wnth 
his comrades. No sadder spectacle will ever be 
seen than that of our poor lads, about half a hun- 
dred Turcos and a few Zouaves, tlie remnants ol 
Froeschwiller, all haggard and pale, and their 
clothes falling to pieces. They were unarmed, 
having destroyed their arms before opening the 
gates. 

Presently Jacob ran to us, crying that they 
were ordered to their barracks, and that they 
would have to start next day before twelve. 

Then his eyes filled with tears. His mother 
and I handed him our parcels, in which we had 
enclosed three good linen shirts, a pair of shoes 
almost new, woollen stockings, and a strong pair 
of trousers. 

I was wearing upon my shoulders my travel 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


295 


ling cape ; I placed it upon his. Then I slipped 
into his pocket a small roll of thalers, and George 
gave him two louis. After this, the tears and 
lamentations of the women recommenced; we 
were obliged to promise to return on the morrow. 

The garrison was defiling down the street ; 
Jacob ran to fall in, and disappeared with the 
rest, near the barracks. 

As for Jean Baptiste Werner, we saw him no 
more. 

The German officers were coming and going 
up and down the town to distribute their troops 
amongst the townspeople. It was twelve o’clock, 
and we returned to our village, sadder and more 
distressed than ever. 

And now we knew that Jacob was safe ; but 
we knew also that he was going to be carried, we 
could not tell where, to the farthest depths of 
Germany. 

My wife arrived home quite ill ; the damp 
weather, her anxiety, her anguish of mind, had 
cast her down utterly. She went to bed with a 
shivering fit, and could not return next day to 
town, nor Gredel, who was taking care of her, so 
I went alone. 

Orders had come to take the prisoners to Liit- 
zelbourg. On reaching the square, near the 
chemist Kobe’s shop, I saw them all in their 
ranks, moving by twos down the road. The in- 
habi^ants had closed their shutters, not to witness 


296 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


this humiliation ; for Hessian soldiers, with armi 
shouldered, were escorting them : our poor boys 
were advamdng between them, their heads hang- 
ing sorrowfully down. 

I stopped at the chemist’s corner, and waited, 
being unable to discern Jacob in the midst of 
that crowd. All at once I recognized him, and I 
cried, “ Jacob ! ” He was going to throw him- 
self into my arms ; but the Hessians repulsed me. 
We both burst into tears, and I went on walking 
by the side of the escort, crying, “ Courage ! . . . 
Write to us. . . . Your mother is not quite 
well. . . . She could not come. ... It is not 
much ! ” 

He answered nothing ; and many others who 
were there had their friends and relations before 
or behind them. 

We wanted to accompany them to Liitzelbourg ; 
unhappily, at the gate the Prussians had posted 
sentinels, who stopped us, pointing their bayonets 
at us. They would not even allow us to press 
our children’s hands. 

On all sides were cries : Adieu, Jean ! ” 
“ Adieu, Pierre ! ” and they replied : “ Adieu ! 
Farewell, father ! ” “ Adieu ! Farewell, mother ! ” 
and then the sighs, the sobs, the tears. . . . 

Ah I the Plebiscite, the Plebiscite ! 

I was compelled to stay there an hour ; at last 
they allowed me to pass I resumed my way 
home, my heart rent with anguish. I could see, 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 


297 


hear nothing but the C17, “ Adieu ! Adieu ! ” of 
all that crowd ; and I thought that men were 
made to make each other miserable ; that it was 
a pity we were ever born ; that for a few days’ 
happiness, acquired by long and painful toil, we 
had years of endless misery ; and that the people 
of the earth, through their folly, their idleness, 
their wickedness, their trust in consummate 
rogues, deserved what they got. 

Yes, I could have wished for another deluge : 
I should have cared less to see the waters rise 
from the ends of Alsace and cover our mountains, 
than to be bound under the yoke of the Germans. 

In this mood I reached home. 

I took care not to tell my wife all that had hap- 
pened ; on the contrary I told her that I had em- 
braced Jacob in my arms for her and for us all ; 
that he was full of spirits, and that he would 
Boon write to us. 

18 * 


298 


STORY OF TEE PLiUBISClTE. 


CHAPTEE XIII. 

We were now rid of onr Landwehr, who were 
garrisoned at Phalsbourg, but a part of whom 
were sent off into the interior. They were indig- 
nant, and declared that if they had known that 
they were to be sent farther, the blockade would 
have lasted longer ; that they would have let the 
cows, the bullocks, and the bread find their way 
in, many a time, in spite of their chiefs ; and 
that it was infamous to expose them to new dan- 
gers when every man had done his part in the 
campaign. 

There was no enthusiasm in them ; but, all the 
same, they marched in step in their ranks, and 
were moved some on Belfort, some on Paris. 

We learned, through the German newspapers, 
that they had severer sufferings to endure round 
Belfort than with us ; that the garrison made sor- 
ties, and drove them several leagues away ; that 
their dead bodies were rotting in heaps, behind 
the hedges, covered with snow and mud ; that 
the commander, Denfert, gave them many a heavy 
dig in the ribs ; and every day people coming 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


299 


from Alsace told us that such au one of the poor 
fellows whom we had known had just been struck 
down by a ball, maimed by a splinter or a shell, 
or bayoneted by our Mobiles. We could not 
help pitying them, for they all had five or six 
children each, of whom they were forever talk- 
ing; and naturally, for when the parent-bird dies 
the brood is lost. 

And all this for the honor and glory of the 
King of Prussia, of Bismarck, of Moltke, and a 
few heroes of the same stamp, not one of whom 
has had a scratch in the chances of war. 

How can one help shrugging one’s shoulders 
and laughing inwardly at seeing these Germans, 
with all their education, greater fools than our- 
selves ? They have won ! That is to say, the 
survivors ; for those who are buried, or who have 
lost their limbs, have no great gain to boast of, 
and can hardly rejoice over the success of the 
enterprise. They have gained — what ? The 
hatred of a people who had loved them ; they have 
gained that they will be obliged to fight every 
time their lords or masters give the order ; they 
have gained that they can say Alsace and Lor- 
raine are ’German, which is absolutely no gain 
whatever ; and besides this they have gained the 
envy of a vast number of people, and the distrust 
of a vast many more, who will end by agreeing 
together to fall upon them in a body, and treat 


300 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


them to fire and slaughter and bombai’dinent, ol 
which they have set us the example. 

This is wdiat the peasants, the artisans, and the 
bourgeois have gained : as for the chiefs, they 
have won some a title, some a pension or an epaU’ 
lette : others have the satisfaction of saying, “ I 
am the great So-and-So ! I am ^Yilliam, Empe- 
ror of Germany ; a crown was set on my head at 
Versailles, whilst thousands of my subjects were 
biting the dust ! *’ 

Alas! notwithstanding all this, these people 
will die, and in a hundred years will be recog- 
nized as barbarians ; their names will be inscribed 
on the roll of the plagues of the human race, and 
there they will remain to the end of time. 

But what is the use of reasoning with such 
philosophers as these? In time they will ac- 
knowledge the truth of what I say 1 

Now to our story again. 

They were fighting furiously round Belfort ; 
our men did not drop off asleep in casements ; 
they occupied posts at a distance all round the 
place: their sortie from Bourcoigne, and their 
slaughter of the Bavarians at Haute-Perche, were 
making a great noise in Alsace. 

We learned from the Indejpendance the battles 
of Chanzy at Yendorne against the army of 
Mecklenburg ; the fight by General Cremer at 
Nuits against the army of Yon Werder ; the re- 
treat of ManteufPel towards Amiens, after having 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


301 


overwhelmed Rouen with forced contributions ; 
the bayonet attack upon the villages around Pont- 
Noyelles, in which Faidherbe had defeated the 
enemy ; and especially the grand measures of 
Gambetta, who had at last dissolved the Coun* 
cils-General named by the Prefects of the Empire, 
and replaced them by really Republican depart- 
mental commissions. 

Cousin George highly approved of this step. 
This was of more importance in his eyes than the 
decrees of our Prussian Prefet Henckel de Bon- 
nermark ; though he had inflicted heavy fines 
upon the fathers and mothers of the young men 
who had left home to join the French armies, and 
had laid Lorraine, already ruined by the invasion, 
under a contribution of 700,000 livres to com- 
pensate the losses suffered by the German mercan- 
tile marine ; plundering decrees which went nigh 
to tearing the bread out of our mouths. 

Then George passed on to the campaign of 
Chanzy; for what could be grander than this 
struggle of a young, inexperienced army, scarcely 
organized, against forces double their number, 
commanded by the great Prussian general who 
had been victorious at Woerth, Sedan, and Metz, 
over the whole of the Imperial troops ? 

George especially admired the noble protest oi 
Chanzy, proclaiming to the world the fei-ocity of 
the Germans, and pointing out with pride I he 


302 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


falsehoods of their generals, who invariably 
claimed the victory. 

“ The Comraander-in-Chief lays before the 
army the subjoined protest, which he transmits, 
under a flag of truce, to the commander of the 
Prussian troops at Yendome, with the assurance 
that his indignation will be shared by all, as well 
as his desire to take signal revenge for such in- 
sults. 

“ To the Prussian commander at Yendome : 

‘‘ I am informed that unj ustifiable acts of vio- 
lence have been committed by troops under your 
orders upon the unoffending inhabitants of St. 
Calais. In spite of our humane treatment of your 
sick and wounded, your officers have exacted 
money and commanded pillage. Such conduct 
is an abuse of power, wdiich will w^eigh heavily 
upon your consciences, and which the patriotism 
of our people will enable them to endure; but 
what I cannot permit is, that you should add to 
these injuries insults which you know full well to 
be entirely gratuitous. 

“ You have asserted that we were defeated ; 
that assertion is false. We have beaten you and 
held you in check since the 4th of this month. 
You have presumed to attach the name of coward 
to men who are prevented from answering you ; 
pretending that they were coerced by the Govern- 
ment of National Defence, which, as you said, 
compelled them to resist when they wanted 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


303 


peace, and you were offerii^^ it. I deny this : I 
deny it by the right given me by the resistance of 
entire France and this army Avhich confronts you, 
and which 3^011 have been hitherto unable to van- 
quish. This communication reaffirms what our 
1‘esistance ought already to have taught }^ou. 
Whatever may be the sacrifices still left us to en- 
dure, we will struggle to the very end, without 
truce or pit^' ; since now we are resisting the at- 
tacks not of loyal and honorable enemies but of 
devastating bands who aim solely at the ruin and 
disgrace of a nation, which itself is striving to 
maintain its honor, rank, and independence. To 
the generous treatment we have accorded to your 
prisoners and wounded, your reply is insolence, 
fire, and plunder. I therefore protest, with deep 
indignation, in the name of humanity and the 
rights of men, which you will trample under foot. 

“The present order will be read before the 
tiwps at three consecutive muster-calls. 

Cha^’zy, Commander-in- Chief. 

“Headquarters, Le Mans., December., 1870 .” 

These are the words of an honorable man 
and a patriot, words to make a man lift up his 
head. 

And as Manteuffel, whose only merit consists 
in having been during his youth the boon com- 
panion of the })ious William ; as this old courtier 
followed the same system as Frederick Charles 


304 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


and Mecklenburg, of lowering us to raise them* 
selves, and to get their successes cheap ; General 
Faidherbe also obliged him to abate his pride 
after the affair of Pont-Noyelles. 

The French army have left in the hands of 
the enemy only a few sailors, surprised in the 
village of Daours. It has kept its positions, and 
has waited in vain for the enemy until two 
o’clock in the afternoon of the next day.” 

This was plain speaking, and it was clear on 
which side good faith was to be looked for. 

Thus, after having opposed a million of men to 
300,000 conscripts, these Germans were even 
now obliged to lie in order not to discourage 
their armies. 

Of course they could not but prevail in the 
end : France had had no time to prepare anew, 
to arm, and to recover herself after this disgrace- 
ful capitulation of the honest man and his friend 
Eazaine ; but still she resisted with terrible en- 
ergy, and the Prussians at last became anxious 
for peace too, and wished for it, perhaps, even 
more than ourselves. 

The proof of this is the numberless petitions 
of the Germans entreating King William to bom- 
bard Paris. 

Humane Germans, fathers of families, pious 
men, seated quietly by their counters at Hamburg, 
Cologne, or Berlin, in every town and village of 
Germany, eating and drinking heartily, wai ming 


STOUT OF THE UL&BISOITE. 


305 


their fat legs before the fire during this winter oi 
unexampled severity, cried to their king at Christ 
mas time to bombard Paris, and set fire to the 
houses — to kill and burn fathers and mothers of 
families like themselves, but reduced to famine in 
their own dwellings ! 

Have any but the Germans ever done the like % 

We too have besieged German towns, but never 
have petitions been sent up like this under the 
Pepublic, or under the Empire, to ask our sol- 
diers to do more injury than war between brave 
men requires. And since that period we have 
never uselessly shelled houses inhabited by inof- 
fensive persons ; and even when we have had to 
bombard walled towns, warning was given, as at 
Odessa and everywhere else, to give helpless peo- 
ple time to depart for the interior, if they did 
not want to run the risk of meeting with stray 
bullets ; and permission was given to old men, 
women, and children to come out— a privilege 
never granted by the Prussians. 

Ah ! the French may not be so pious, so 
learned, and so good as the good German jgeojple^ 
but they have better hearts and feelings of com- 
passion ; they liave less of the Gospel upon their 
lips, but they have it in the bottoms of their 
souls. They are not hypocrites, and therefore we 
Alsacians and Lorrainers had rather remain 
French than belong to the good German people 
and bo like them. 


306 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


ludigDities without a precedent have been 
committed by them : Shell — bombard — burn, 
in the name of Heaven ! Set fire everywhere 
wdth petroleum bombs ! — You are too gracious a 
king ! — Your scruples betray too much weakness 
for this Babylon : Bombard quick : Bombard- 
ments have succeeded better than anything else. 
Sire, your good and faithful people entreat you 
to bombard everything — leave nothing stand- 
ing ! ” 

Oh ! scoundrels ! — rascals ! — if you have so 
often played the saint for fifty years ; if you have 
talked so edifyingly about friendship, brother- 
hood, and the alliance of nations, it w^as because 
you did not then think yourselves the strongest ; 
now that you think you are, yon piously bombard 
women, old men, and children, in the name of 
the Saviour ! Faugh ! it is simply disgusting! 

Every time that Cousin George read these 
assassins’ petitions, he would spring off his chair 
and cry : “ How I know what to think of fanatics 
of every religion. These men have no need to 
play the hypocrite : their religion does not oblige 
them to it. Well, they play the Jesuit for the 
love of it, better than we do by profession. May 
tliey be execrated and despised perpetually.” 

Then he dilated with much warmth of feelinor 

CJ 

upon the kind reception which the Parisians, in 
former days, used to accord to the Germans, for 
forty years and more. Men who came to seek a 


STORY OP TUE PLEBISCITE. 


307 


livelihood among ns, without a penny, lean, hum- 
ble, half«elad, with a little bundle of old rags 
under their arms, asking for credit, even in 
George’s and Marie Anne’s little inn, for a basin 
of Ijroth, a bit of meat, and a glass of wine, were 
k'ndly received ; they were cheered up, and situ- 
ations found for them : everybody was anxious 
to put them in the right way, to explain to them 
what they did not know. Soon they grew fat 
and flourishing, and gained assurance; by ser- 
vility they would win the confidence of the head- 
clerk, who showed them all about the business ; 
and then some fine morning it was noised about 
that the head-clerk was discharged and the Ger- 
man was in his place. He had had a private 
interview with the liead partner, and had pro- 
posed to do the work for half the salary. Of 
course the partners are always glad to have good 
workmen, humble and obsequious, and, above all, 
cheap. 

George had witnessed this fifty times. 

But people did not get angry ; they would say, 
“ The poor fellow must earn a living somehow. 
The other is a Frenchman : ho will very soon 
secure another place.” 

And it was thus that the Germans slipped 
quietly into the shoes of those who had received 
them kindly and taught them their trade. 

A few old clerks used to get angry ; but they 
were always held to be in the wrong. ^'‘That 


308 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


good German ’’ was justified ! He had not raed 
died ; everything had gone on simply and natur« 
ally. 

And twenty, thirty, fifty thousand Germans 
used thus to come and prosper in Paris ; and then 
they would get a holiday to take a turn home and 
exhibit the flesh and fat they had gained, and 
their gold trinkets. 

If they happened to be professors of languages 
or newspaper correspondents, they were sure to 
break out down there against the corruption of 
manners in this “ modern Babylon.” Great hulk- 
ing fellows they were, with long hooded cloaks, 
and gold or silver spectacles, who had scandalized 
even their doorkeepers by bringing home night 
after night princesses ” of Mabile and elsewhere, 
singing, drinking like a sponge, shaking all the 
house, and preventing people from sleeping ; 
bringing, besides, other colleagues of the same 
stamp, and leading disgraceful lives ! 

But it is the fashion in Germany to cry out 
against “ modern Bay Ion.” It flatters the secret 
envy of the Germans, and establishes the charac- 
ter of the speaker for seriousness, gravity, and in- 
fluence ; as a man worthy of every consideration, 
and who may hope — if his situation in Paris is 
permanent — for the hand of “ Herr Hector’s ” or 
‘‘ Herr Doctor’s ” fair daughter : for in that coun- 
try they are all doctors in something or other. 
He had gone off as cold and comfortless as the 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 809 

stones in the street; he would have become a 
schoolmaster, or a small clerk at a couple of hun- 
dred thalers all his life, in old Germany. He 
weighed heavily upon his poor father, encumbered 
with a dozen children; but he had grown fat, 
well-feathered, and well-trained in Paris ; and 
there he is now virtuously indignant against our 
own townswomen: against the degenerate race 
which has given him his daily bread, and pulled 
him out of the mire, instead of kicking him down- 
stairs. 

This German fellow used to be republican, so- 
cialist, communist, etc. He had fled from Co- 
logne, or elsewhere, in consequence of the events 
of 1848. Nothing in our opinion was sufficiently 
strong, decided, or advanced for him. He spouted 
about his sacrifices for the universal Eepublic, his 
terrible campaign in the Duchy of Baden against 
the Prussians, the loss of his place, of his property. 
We thought, what siffierings he has endured! 
Surely, the Germans are the first Democrats in 
the world ! 

But now this very same gentleman is the most 
faithful servant of his Majesty William, King of 
Prussia, Emperor of Germany. No doubt he 
talks at Berlin of the sacrifices which he has made 
to the noble cause of Germany, the battles he has 
fought in the public-houses amongst the broken 
bottles of beer which he has been swallowing by 
the dozen, to reclaim old Alsace, where lie deep 


310 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


the roots of the Germaine tongue. He abounda 
ill indignation against the ‘^ Modern Babylon ; ” 
his name stands at the head of the earliest peti- 
tions that Babylon should be burned, .till nothing 
but ashes were left: that that race of madmen 
should be exterminated; and as during his resi- 
dence in France he has rendered police services 
to Bismarck, he is pretty sure to obtain a post in 
Alsace-Lorraine, where all these old German spies 
are swooping down to Germanize us. 

Thus spoke George, in his indignation ; and 
Marie Anne, after listening to him, said : “ Ah, 
it is too true ! Those men did deceive us ; and 
they did not even pay their debts. Some fine morn- 
ing, when their bill had run up, three-fourths of 
them would make a start, and they were never 
heard of again. I have never had any confidence 
in any of them, except the crossing-sweepers and 
the shoe-blacks : one knew where to find them ; 
but as for the professors, the newspaper-corre- 
spondents, the inventors, the book-worms — they 
have done us too many bad turns ; and they were 
too overbearing. They were filled with hatred 
and envy of our nation. 

Since the departure of the Landwehr, we were 
able to speak more freely : those sulky eavesdrop- 
pers were no longer spying upon us, and we felt 
the relief. 

Paris, as we saw in the IndejpendaiiGe^ was mak- 
ing sorties. The Gardes Mobiles and the 


BTOUT OF THE PLlSBISCITE. 


311 


tioiial Guards were being drilled and becoming 
better skilled in the use of arms. Our sailors, in 
the forts, were admirable. But the Germans 
grew stronger from day to day ; they had brought 
such enormous guns — called Krupp’s — that the 
railways were unable to bear them, the tunnels 
were not higli enough to give them passage, and 
the bridges gave way under their ponderous mass. 
This proves that if the bombardment had not yet 
commenced, in spite of the innumerable petitions 
of the good Germans^ it was not for want of will 
on the part of his Majesty King William, Mes- 
sieurs Moltke, Bismarck, and all those good men. 
Oh, no ! our forts and our sorties hampered them 
a good deal in gaining their positioiis ! 

At last, about the end of December, by the 
grace of God,” as the Emperor William said, 
they began by bombarding a few forts, and were 
soon enabled to reach houses, hospitals, churches, 
and museums. 

George and Marie Anne knew all these places 
by name, and these ferocious acts drew from them 
cries of horror. I, ray wife, and Gredel could 
not understand these accounts : having never been 
in Paris, we could not form an idea of it. 

The German news- writers knew them, however; 
for daily they told us how great a misfortune it 
was to be obliged to shell such rich libraries, such 
beautiful galleries of pictures, such magnificent 
monuments, and gardens so richly stocked with 


312 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


plants and rare collections ; that it made th ni 
hearts bleed : they professed themselves inconsob 
able at being driven to such an extremity by the 
evil dispositions of those who presumed to defend 
their property, their homes, their wives, their 
children, contrary to every principle of justice ! 
They pitied the French for their want of com- 
mon sense ; they said that their brains were ad- 
dled ; that they were in their dotage, and uttered 
similar absurdities. 

But every time that they lost men, their fury 
rose : “ The Germans are a sacred race ! Kill Ger- 
mans ! a superior race ! it is a high crime. The 
French, the Swiss, the Danes, the Dutch, Bel- 
gians, Poles, Hungarians, even the Bussians, are 
destined to be successively devoured by the Ger- 
mans.” I have heard this with my own ears ! 
Yes, the Bussians, too, they cannot dispense with 
the Germans; their manufactures, their trade, 
their sciences come to them from Germany ; they, 
too, belong to an inferior race. The renowned 
GortschakofP is unworthy to dust the boots of 
Monsieur Bismarck, and the Emperor of Bussia 
is most fortunate in being allied by marriage to 
the Emperor William : it is a glorious preroga 
tive for him ! 

The Captain, Floegel, used often to repeat these 
things ; and besides, the Germans all say the 
same at this time ; you have but to listen to tl em : 
they .are too strong now to need to hide their am- 


STOET OF THE PL^;BISGITE. 


313 


bition. They think they are conferring a great 
honor upon us Alsacians and Lorrainers in ac 
knowledging us as cousins, and gathering us to 
themselves out of love. We were a superior 
race in “ that degenerate France ; ” but we are 
about to become little boys again amongst the 
noble German people. We are the last new-com- 
ers into Germany, and shall require time to ac- 
quire the noble German virtues : to become hyp- 
ocrites, spies, bombarders, plunderers ; to learn 
to receive slaps and kicks without winking. But 
what would you have ? You cannot regenerate a 
people in a day. 

The Prussians had announced that Paris would 
surrender after an eight-days’ bombardment; but 
as the Parisians held out ; as there were passing 
by Saverne innumerable convoys of wounded, 
scorched, maimed, and sick by thousands ; as 
General Faidherbe had gained a victory in the 
l^orth, the victory of Bapaume, in which we had 
driven the Prussians from the field of battle all cov- 
ered with their dead, and in which the enemy had 
left in our hands not only all their wounded, but 
a great number of prisoners ; as the inhabitants 
of Paris had only one fault to find with General 
Trochu, that he did not lead them out to the great 
battle, and they were raising the cry of “ victory 
or death ; ” since Chanzy, repulsed at Le Mans, 
was falling back in good order, while in the 
midst of the deep snows of January and the se- 
14 


314 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


verest cold, Bourbaki was still advancing upon 
Belfort ; and Garibaldi with his francs-tireura 
was not losing courage ; since the Germans were 
Buffering from exhaustion; and it takes but an 
hour, a minute, to turn all the chances against 
one ; and if Faidherbe had gained his victory 
nearer to Paris a great sortie would have ensued, 
which might have entirely changed the face of 
things — for these and other reasons, I suppose, 
all at once there was much talk of humanity, 
mildness, peace ; of the convocation of an assem- 
bly at Bordeaux, where the true representatives 
of the nation might settle everything, and restore 
order to our unhappy France. 

As soon as these rumors began to spread, 
George said that Alsace and German Lorraine 
were to be sacrificed ; that our egotists had come 
to an understanding with the Germans ; that all 
our defeats had been unable to cast us down, and 
the Prussians were better pleased than ourselves 
to come to an end of it, for they needed peace, 
having no reserves left to throw into the scale ; 
that Gambetta’s enthusiasm and courage might 
at once win over the most timid, and that then 
the Germans would be lost, because a people that 
rises in a body, and at the same time possesses 
arms and munitions of war in a third of our 
pi-ovinces, such a nation in the long run would 
crush all resistance. 

I could say nothing. Even to-day I do not 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


315 


know what miglit have happened. When Cousin 
George spoke, I was of his opinion ; and then, 
left to ray own reflections, when I saw that 
iraraense body of prisoners delivered by Bona- 
parte and Bazaine all at once ; all our arras 
surrendered at Metz and Strasbourg, and our 
fortresses fallen one after another ; then the ill- 
will, to say the least of all the former place- 
holders under the Empire, three-fourths of whom 
were retaining their posts — I thought it quite 
possible that we might wage against the Germans 
a war much more dangerous than the first ; that 
we might destroy many more of the enemy at 
the same time with ourselves ; but, if I had been 
told to choose, I should have found it hard to 
decide. 

Of course, if the Prussians had been defeated 
in the interior, before abandoning our country, 
they would have ruined us utterly, and set fire to 
every village. I have myself several times heard 
a Hauptmann at Phalsbourg say, ^^You had 
better pray for us ! For woe to you, if we should 
be repulsed ! All that you have hitherto suffered 
would be but a joke. We would not leave one 
stone upon another in Alsace and Lorraine. 
That would be our defensive policy. So pi’ay 
for the success of our armies. If we should be 
obliged to retire, you would be much tc be 
pitied !” 

I can hear these words still. 


316 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


But I would not have minded even that: 1 
would liave sacrificed house, mill, and all, if we 
could only have finally been victorious and re- 
mained French; but I was in doubt. Misery 
makes a man lose, not courage, but confidence ; 
and confidence is half the battle won. 

About that time we received Jacob’s first 
letter; he was at Kastadt, and I need not tell 
you what a relief it was to his mother to think 
that she could go and see him in one day. 

Here is the letter, which I copy for you : 

“My dear Father and dear Mother, — 
“Thane. God, I am not dead yet; and I 
should be glad to hear from you, if possible. 
You must know that, on arriving at Liitzelbourg, 
we were sent off by railway in cattle-trucks. 
We were thirty or forty together ; and we were 
not so comfortable as to be able to sit, since there 
were no seats, nor to breathe the air, as there was 
only a small hole to each side. Those of us who 
wanted to breathe or to drink, found a bayonet 
before our noses, and charitable souls were for- 
bidden to give us a glass of water. We remained 
in this position more than twenty hours, standing, 
unable even to stoop a little. Many were taken 
ill ; and as fur me, my thigh bones seemed to 
run up into my ribs, so that I could scarcely 
breathe, and I thought with my comrades that 


STOBY OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 


317 


they had iindertalven to exterminate ns after some 
new fashion. 

“ During the night we crossed the Dhine, and 
then wo went on rolling along tlie line, and 
travelling along the other side as far as Rasta dt, 
where we are now. The hindmost trucks, wheie 
1 was, remained; the others went on into Ger- 
many. We were first put into the casemates un- 
der the ramparts ; damp, cold vaults, where many 
others who had arrived before us were dying like 
flies in October. The straw was rotting — so were 
the men. The doctors in the town and those of 
the Baden regiments were afraid of seeing sick- 
ness spreading in the country ; and since the day 
before yesterday those who ai*e able to walk have 
been made to come out. They have put us into 
large wooden huts covered in witli tarred felt, 
where we have each received a fresh bundle of 
straw. Here we live, seated on the ground. We 
play at cards, some smoke pipes, and the Baden- 
ers mount guard over us. The hut in which I 
am — about three times as lai’ge as the old mar- 
ket-hall of Phalsbourg — is situated between two 
of the town bastions ; and if by some evil chance 
any of us took a fancy to revolt, we should be so 
overwhelmed with shot and shell that in ten min- 
utes not a man would be left alive. We are well 
aware of this, and it keeps our indignation within 
bounds against these Badeners, who treat us like 
cattle. We get food twice a day — a little hari- 


318 


8T0R7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


cot or millet soup, with a very small piece oi 
meat about the size of a finger: just enough to 
keep us alive. After such a blockade as orrs, 
something more is wanted to set ns up ; our noses 
stand out of our faces like crows’ bills, our cheeks 
sink in deeper and deeper ; and but for the guns 
pointed at us, we should have risen a dozen times. 

“ I hope, however, I may get over it ; father’s 
cloak keeps me warm, and Cousin George’s louis 
are very useful. With money you can get any- 
thing ; only here you have to pay five times the 
value of what you want, for these Badeners are 
worse than Jews ; they all want to make their 
fortunes in the shortest time out of the unhappy 
prisoners. 

I use my money sparingly. Instead of smok- 
ing, I prefer buying from time to time a little 
meat or a very small bottle of wine to fortify ray 
stomach ; it is much better for my health, and is 
tlie more enjoyable when your appetite is good. 
My appetite has never failed. When the appe- 
tite fails, comes the typhus. I do not expect I 
shall catch typhus. But, if it please God to let 
me return to Bothalp, the very first day 1 will 
have a substantial meal of ham, veal pie, and red 
wine. I will also invite my comrades, for it is a 
dreadful thing to be hungry. And now, to tell 
you the truth, I repent of having never given a 
couple of sous to some poor beggar who asked 
me for alms in the winter, saying that he liad 


i^TOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 319 

eaten nothing. I know what hunger is now, and 
I feel sorry. If you meet one in this condition, 
father or mother, invite him in, give him bread, 
let him warm himself, and give him two or three 
sous when he goes. Fancy that you are doing it 
for your son ; it will bring me comfort. 

“ Perhaps mother will be able to come and see 
me : not many people are allowed to come near 
us ; a permit must be had from the comman- 
dant at Pastadt. These Badeners and tliese 
Bavarians, who were said to be such good Catho- 
lics, treat us as hardly as the Lutherans. I re- 
member now that Cousin George used to say that 
was only part of the play : he was right. Instead 
of only praising and singing to our Lord, they 
would much better follow His example. 

“ Let mother try ! Perhaps the commandant 
may have had a good dinner ; then he will be in 
a good temper, and will give her leave to come 
into the huts : that is my wish. And now, to 
come to an end, I embrace 3^011 all a hundred 
times; father, mother, Gredel, Cousin George, 
and Cousin Marie Anne. 

“ Your son, 

“ Jacob Webek. 

I forgot to tell you that several out of our 
battalion escaped from Phalsbourg before and 
after the muster-call of the prisoners: in the 
number was Jean Baptiste Werner. It is said 


320 


STOBr OF THE PLJEEISGITB. 


that they have joined Garibaldi : I wish I waa 
with them. The Germans tell us that if they can 
catch them they will shoot them down without 
pity ; yes, but they won’t let themselves be caught : 
especially Jean Baptiste ; he is a soldier indeed ! 
If we had but two hundred thousand of his sort, 
these Badeners would not be bothering us with 
their haricot-soup, and their cannons full of grape- 
shot. 

“ Rastadt, January 6 , 1871 .” 

From that moment my wife only thought of 
seeing Jacob again ; she made up her bundle, put 
into her basket sundry provisions, and in a couple 
of days started for Bastadt. 

I put no hindrance in her way, thinking she 
would have no rest until she had embraced our 
boy. 

Gredel was quite easy, knowing that Jean Bap- 
tiste Werner was with Garibaldi. I even think 
she had had news from him ; but she showed us 
none of his letters, and had again begun to talk 
about her marriage portion, reminding me that 
her mother had had a hundred louis, and that 
she ought to have the same. She insisted upon 
knowing where our money was hidden, and I 
said to her, “ Search ; if you can find it, it is 
yours.” 

Girls who want to be married are so awfully 
selfish ; if they can only have the man they want, 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


321 


house, family, native land, all is one to them. 
They are not all like that ; but a good half. I 
was so annoyed with Grcdel that I began to wish 
her Jean Baptiste would come back, that I might 
marry them and count out her money. 

But more serious affairs were then attractino: 
the eyes of all Alsace and France. 

Gambetta had been blamed for having de- 
tached Bourbaki’s army to our succor by raising 
the blockade of Belfort. It has been said that 
this movement enabled the combined forces of 
Prince Frederick Charles, and of Mecklenburg, to 
fall upon Chanzy and overwhelm him, and that 
our two central armies ought to have naturally 
supported each other. Possibly! I even believe 
that Gambetta committed a serious error in divid- 
ing our forces : but, it must be acknowledged, that 
if the winter had not been against us — if the cold 
had not, at that very crisis of our fate, redoubled 
in intensity, preventing Bourbaki from advancing 
with his guns and warlike stores with the rapidity 
necessary to prevent De Werder from fortifying 
his position and receiving reinforcements — - 
Alsace would have been delivered, and we might 
even have attacked Germany itself by the Gi*and 
Duchy of Baden. Then how inaii}^ men would 
liave risen in a moment! Many times George 
and I, watching these movements, said to eacli 
other : “ If they only get to Mutzig, we will go ! ’’ 

Yes, in war everything cannot succeed ; and 


322 STORY OF THE Pl£jBI8C1TE. 


when you liave against you not only the enemy j 
but frost, ice, snow, bad roads ; whilst the enemy 
have the railroads, which they had been stupidly 
allowed to take at the beginning of the campaign, 
and are receiving without fatigue or danger, 
troops, provisions, munitions of war, whatever 
they want; then if good plans don’t turn out 
successful, it is not the last but the first comers 
who are to be blamed. 

But for the heavy snows which blocked up the 
roads, Bourbaki would have surprised Werder. 
The Germans were expecting this, for all at once 
the requisitions began again. The Landwehr, 
this time from Metz, and commanded by officei*s 
in spectacles, began to pass through our villages ; 
they were the last that we saw ; they came from 
tlie farthest extremity of Prussia. I heard them 
say that they had been three days and three 
nights on the railway ; and now they were con- 
tinuing their road to Belfort by forced marches, 
because other troops from Paris were crowding 
the Lyons railway. 

George could not understand how raen should 
come from Paris, and said : “ Those people are 
lying ! If the troops engaged in the siege were 
coming away, the Parisians would come out and 
follow them up.” 

At the same time we learned that the Germans 
were evacuating Dijon, Gray, Yesoul, places 
which the francs-tireui-s of Garibaldi immediately 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE, 


323 


occupied; that Werder was throwing up great 
earthworks against Belfort ; things were looking 
serious ; the lust forces of Germany was coming 
into action. 

Then, too, the Independance talked of nothing 
but peace, and the convocation of a National 
Assembly at Bordeaux ; the English newspapers 
began again to commiserate our loss, as they had 
done at the beginning of the war, saying that 
after the first battle her Majesty the Queen would 
interpose between us. I believe that if the 
French had conquered, the English Government 
would have cried, “ Halt — enough ! too much 
blood has flown already.” 

But as we were conquered, her Majesty did 
not come and separate us ; no doubt she was of 
opinion that everything was going on very favor 
ably for her son-in-law, the good Fritz ! 

So all this acting on the part of the newspapers 
was beginning again ; and if Bourbaki’s attempt 
had prospered, the outcries, the fine phrases, the 
tender feelings for our poor human race, civiliza- 
tion and international rights would have re- 
doubled, to prevent us from pushing our ad- 
vantages too far. 

Unhappily, fortune was once more against us. 
When I say fortune, let me be understood : the 
Germans, who had no more forces to draw from 
their own country, still had some to spare around 
Paris, which they could dispose of without fear ; 


324 STOBY OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 

they felt no uneasiness in that quarter, as we 
have learned since. 

If General Trochu had listened to the Paris- 
ians, who were unanimous in their desire to light, 
ManteufPel could not have withdrawn from the 
besieging force 80,000 men to crush Bourbald, 
120 leagues away ; nor- General Yan Goeben 
40,000 to fall upon Faidherbe in the north; nor 
could others again have joined Frederick Charles 
to overwhelm Chanzy. This is clear enough ! 
The fortune of the Germans at this time was not 
due to the genius of their chiefs, or the courage 
and the number of their men ; but to the inac- 
tion of General Trochu ! Yes, this is the fact ! 
Put it must also be owned that Gambetta, Boui*: 
baki, Faidherbe, and Chanzy ought to have al- 
lowed for this. 

However, France has not perished yet ; but she 
has been most unfortunate ! 

The cold was intense. Bourbaki was ap- 
proaching Belfort ; he took Esprels and Yiller- 
sexel at the point of the bayonet ; then all Alsace 
rejoiced to hear that he was at Montbeliard, Sar- 
le-Chateau, Yyans, Comte-IIenaut and Chusey; 
retaking all this land of good people, more ill- 
fated still than we, since they knew not a word 
of German, and that bad race bore them ill-will 
in consequence. 

Our confidence was returning. Every evening 
George and I, by the fireside, talked of these af- 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


325 


fairs ; reading the paper three or four times over, 
to get at something new. 

My wife had returned from Rastadt full of in- 
dignation against the Badeners, for not having 
allowed her to see Jacob, or even to send him the 
provisions she had brought. She had only seen, 
at a distance, the wooden huts, with their four 
lines of sentinels, the palisades, and the ditches 
that surrounded them. Gredel, Marie Anne, and 
she, talked only of these poor prisoners ; vowing 
to make a pilgrimage to Marienthal if Jacob 
came back safe and sound. 

Fatigue, anxiety, the high price of provisions, 
the fear of coming short altogether if the war 
went on, all this gave us matter for serious re- 
flection ; and yet we went on hoping, when the 
LidejpendariGe brought us the report of General 
Chanzy upon the combats at Moutfort, Cham- 
pagne, Parigne, I’Eveque, and other places where 
our columns, overpowered by the 120,000 men 
of Frederick Charles and the Duke of Mecklen- 
burg, had been obliged to retire to their last lines 
around Le Mans. That evening, as we were 
going home upon the stroke of ten, George said ; 
“ I don’t believe much in pilgrimages, although 
several of my old shipmates in the JBoussole had 
full confidence in our Lady of Good Deliverance: 
I liave never made any vows ; these are no part of 
iny principles ; but 1 promise to drink two bottles 
of good wine with Christian in honor of the Ee* 


326 


8T0R7 OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


public, and to distribute one for every poor man in 
tlie village if we gain the great battle of to-mor< 
row. According to Chanzy our army is driven 
to bay ; it has fallen back upon its last position, 
and the great blow will be struck. Good-night.” 

Good-night, George and Marie Anne.” 

We went out by moonlight, the hoar-frost was 
glittering on the ground ; it was the 15th of Jan- 
uary, 1871. 

The next day no Indejpendance arrived, nor 
the next day ; it often had missed, and would 
come three or four numbers together. Fresh 
rumors had spread ; there was a report of a lost 
battle ; the Landwehr at Phalsbourg were re- 
joicing and drinking champagne. 

On the 18th, about two in the afternoon, tlie 
foot-postman Michel arrived. I was waiting at 
my cousin’s. We were walking up and down, 
smoking and looking out of the windows ; 
Michel was still in the passage, when George 
opened the door and cried: “Well?” “Here 
they are. Monsieur Weber.” 

My cousin sat at his desk. “ How we will 
see,” said he, changing color. 

But instead of beginning with the first, he 
opened the second, and read aloud that report of 
Chanzy’s in which he said that all was going on 
well the evening before ; but that a panic which 
seized upon tlie Breton Mobiles had disordered 
the army, without the possibility of either lie or 


STORY OF THE PLEBI8GITE. 


327 


the Yice-Admiral Jaurreguiberry being able to 
check or stop it ; so that the Prussians had 
rushed pell-mell into the unhappy city of Le 
Mans, mingled with our own troops, and taken a 
large body of prisoners. 

I saw the countenance of my cousin change 
every moment ; at last, he flung the journal 
upon the table, crying : “ All is lost ! ” 

It was as if he had pierced my lieart with a 
knife. Yet I took up the paper and read to the 
end. Chanzy had not lost all hope of rallying 
his army at Laval, and Gambetta was hastening 
to join him, to support him with his courageous 
spirit. 

“ There now,” said George, look at that ! ” 

Placiard was passing the house arm-in-arm with 
a Landwehr officer, followed by a few men ; they 
were making requisitions, and entered the house 
opposite. There is the Plebiscite in flesh and 
blood. How that scoundrel is working for his 
Imperial Majesty William I., for the Germans 
have their emperor, as we have had ours ; they 
will soon learn the cost of glory ; each has his 
turn ! By and by, when the reins are tightened, 
these poor Germans will bo looking in every di- 
rection to see if the F rench are not revolting ; 
but France will be tranquil : they themselves will 
have riveted their own chains, and their masters 
will draw the reins tighter and tighter, saying ! 


328 


STOUT OF TUE PLEBISCITE. 


“ Now, then, Mechle ! * Attention ! eyes right 
eyes left. All ! you lout, do you make a wry 
face? I will show you that might is right in 
Germany, as everywhere else, if you don’t know 
it already. Whack! how do you like that, 
Mechle ? Aha ! did you think you were getting 
victories for German Fatherland and German 
liberty, idiot ? You find out now that it Avas to 
put yourself again under the yoke, as after 1815 ; 
just to show you the difference between the noble 
German lord and a brute of your own sort. Get 
on, Mechle ! ” 

George exclaimed : How miserable to be sur- 
prised and deluged as we have been daily by six 
hundred thousand Germans, and to have our 
hands bound like culprits, without arms, muni- 
tions, orders, chiefs, or anything ! Ah ! the depu- 
ties of the majority who voted for Avar Avould not 
demand compulsory service ; they feared to arm 
the nation. They would not risk the bodies of 
their own sons ; the people alone should tight to 
defend their places, their salaries, their chateaux, 
their property of eA^ery sort! Miserable self- 
seekers ! they are the cause of our ruin ! theii 
names should be exposed in every commune, tc 
teach our children to execrate them.” 

lie Avas becoming embittered, and it is not sur- 
prising, for every day Ave heard of fresh reverses ; 

* Nickname for the Germans, answering- to the English 
“ John Bull,” and the French “ Jaques Bonhomme.” 


STORY OF THE PLiJBISClTE. 


329 


first the surrender of Yeronne, just when Faid' 
herbe was coming to deliver it, and the retreat of 
our army of the I^orth upon Lille and Cambrai, 
before the overwhelming forces of Yan Goeben, 
fresh from Paris ; then the grand attack of Bour- 
baki from Montbeliard to Mont Yaudois, which 
he had pursued three successive days, the 15th, 
16th, and 17th January without success, on ac- 
count of the reinforcements which Werder had 
received, and the horrible state of the roads, 
broken up by the rain and tlie snow ; lastly, the 
arrival of Manteuffel, with his 80,000 men, also 
from Paris — to cut off his retreat. 

Then we understood that the Landwehr had 
been right in telling ns that they were getting re- 
inforcements from Paris ; and George, who un- 
derstood such things better than I, suddenly con- 
ceived a horror for those who were commanding 
there. 

“Either,” he said, “the Parisians are afraid to 
fight — which I cannot believe, for I know them 
— or the men in command are incapable — or trai- 
tors. Hitherto relieving armies have been sent 
in support of a besieged city ; now we see the 
besiegers of a city twice as strong as themselves 
in men, arms, and munitions of every kind, de- 
tashing whole armies to crush our troops fighting 
in the provinces : the thing is incredible ! I am 
(certain that the Parisians are demanding to be 
led out, especially as they are suffering from 


330 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


famine. Well, if sorties were taking place, tli« 
Germans would want all their men down there, 
and would be unable to come and overwhelm our 
already overtasked armies.” 

Let them explain these things as they will, 
George was right. Since the Germans were able 
to send away from Paris 40,000 men in one direc- 
tion, and 80,000 in another, evidently they were 
free to undertake what they pleased ; instead of 
surrounding the city with troops, they might have 
set helmets and cloaks upon sticks all round, for 
scarecrows, as they do to keep sparrows out of a 
corn-field. 

Here, then, is how we have lost : it was the 
incapacity of the man who was commanding at 
Paris, and the weakness of the Government of 
Defence — and especially of Monsieur Jules 
Pavj’e ! — who, when they ought to have replaced 
this orator by a man of action, as Gambetta de- 
manded, had not the courage to fulfil their duty. 
Everybody knows this ; why not say it openly % 

The only thing which cheered us a little about 
the end of this terrible month of January, was to 
learn that the francs-tireurs had blown up the 
bridge of Fontenoy, on the railroad between 
Nancy and Toul. But our joy was not of long 
duration ; for three or four days after, proclama- 
tions posted at the door of the mayoralty-house 
gave notice that the Germans had utterly consum- 
ed the village of Fontenoy, to punish the inhabi- 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


331 


tants for not having denounced the francs-tireurs ; 
and that all we Lorrainers were condemned, for 
the same offence, to pay an extraordinary contri- 
bution of ten millions to his Majesty, the Emperor 
of Germany. At the same time, as the French 
workmen were refusing to repair this bridge, the 
Prussian prefect of La Menotte wrote to the 
Mayor of Nancy : 

“ If to-morrow, Tuesday, January 21, at twelve 
o’clock, five hundred men from the dockyards of 
the city are not at the station, first the foremen, 
then a certain number of the workmen, will be 
arrested and shot immediately.” 

This prefect’s name was Renard — “ Count Ren- 
ard.” 

I mention this that his name may not be for- 
gotten. 

But all this was nothing, compared with what 
was to follow. One morning the Prussians had 
given me a few sacks of corn to grind ; I dared 
not refuse to work for them, as they would have 
crushed me with blows and requisitions : they 
might have carried me off nearly to Metz again, 
they might even have shot me. I had pleaded 
the snow, the ice, the failure of the water, which 
prevented me from grinding ; unfortunately, rain 
had fallen in abundance, the snow was melting, 
the mill-dam was full, and on the 2d or 3d of 
February (I am not sure which, I am so confused) 
I was piling up the sacks of that wicked set in my 


332 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


mill ; Father Offraii and Catherine were helping 
Gredel, upstairs, was dressing herself, after sweep 
ing the house and lighting the kitchen fire. It 
was about eight o’clock in the morning, when 
looking out into the street by chance, where the 
water was rattling down the guttei-s, I saw George 
and Marie Anne coming. 

My cousin was taking long strides, his wife 
coming after him ; farther on a Landwelir was 
coming too : the people were sweeping before 
their doors, without caring how they bespattered 
the passers-by, George, near the mill, cried out, 
“ Do you know what is going on ? ” 

•‘No— what?” 

“ Well, an armistice has been concluded for 
twenty-one days; the Paris forts are given up: 
he Prussians may set fire to the city when they 
please. Now they may send all their troops and 
all their artillery against Bourbaki; for the ar- 
mistice does not extend to the operations in the 
east.” 

George was pale with excitement, his voice 
shook. Gredel, at the top of the stairs, was has- 
tily twisting her hair into a knot. 

“ Look, Christian,” said my cousin, pulling a 
paper out of his pocket ; ‘‘ the armies of Bour- 
baki and Garibaldi are surrendered by this armis- 
tice. Manteuffel has come down from Paris 
with 80,000 men to occupy the passes of the Jura 
in their rear : the unfortunate men are caught 


isronr of the plebiscite. 


333 


in a vice, between him and Werder ; and all who 
have escaped from the hands of the Prussians 
and taken service again, like our poor Mobiles of 
Phalsbourg, will be shot ! ” 

While cousin was speaking, Gredel had come 
downstairs, without even putting on her slippers ; 
she was leaning against him, as pale as death, 
trying to read over his shoulder ; when suddenly 
she tore the paper from his hands. George 
wished he had said nothing ; but it was too late ! 

Gredel, after having read with clenched teeth, 
ran off like a mad woman, uttering fearful 
screams : “ Oli ! the wretches ! . . . Oh ! my 
poor Jean Baptiste! . . . Oh! the thieves ! . . . 
. . Oh ! my poor Jean Baptiste ! ” 

She seemed to be seeking something to fight 
with. And as we stood confounded at her out- 
cries, I said : “ Gredel, for Heaven’s sake don’t 
scandalize us in this way. The people will hear 
you from the other end of the village!” She 
answered in a fury : “ Hold your tongue ! You 
are the cause of it all ! ” 

“ I ! ” said I, indignantly. 

“ Yes, you ! ” she shrieked, with a terrible 
flashing in her eyes : you, with your Plebiscite; 
deceiving everybody by promising them peace ! 
You deserve to be along with Bazaine and the 
rest of them.” 

And my wife cried : “ That girl will be the 
death of us.” 


334 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISGITE. 


She had sat down upon the stairs. Marie 
Anne, witli her hands clasped, said : “ Do forgive 
her ; her mind is going.” 

Never had I felt so humbled; to be treated 
thus by my own daughter ! But Gredel re- 
spected nothing now ; and Cousin George, trying 
to get in a word, she exclaimed : You ! you I 
an old soldier ! Are you not ashamed of staying 
here, instead of going to fight ? The Landwehr 
are as old as you, with their gray hairs and their 
spectacles; they don’t make speeches; they all 
march. And that’s why we are beaten ! ” 

At last I became furious ; and I was looking 
for my cowhide behind the door, to bring her to 
her senses, when, unfortunately, a Landwehr came 
in to ask if the fiour was ready. The moment 
Gredel caught sight of him, she uttered such a 
savage shriek that my ears still tingle with it, and 
in a second she had laid hold of her hatchet ; 
George had scarcely time to seize her by her 
twisted back hair, when the hatchet had flown 
from her hand, whizzing through the air, and was 
quivering three inches deep in the door-post. 

The Landwehr, an elderly man, with great eyes 
and a red nose, had seen the steel flash past close 
to his ear ; lie had heard it whiz, and as Gredel 
was struggling with George, crying : “ Oh, the 
villain ; I have missed him ! ” he turned, and ran 
off at the top of his speed. I ran to the mill-dam, 
supposing he was going to the Mayor’s, but no, 


STORY OF THE PL^^BISCITE. 


335 


he ran a great deal farther than that, and never 
stopped till he reached Wechem. 

Then Gredel became aware that she had made 
a mistake ; she went np into her room, put on her 
slioes, took her basket, went into the kitchen for 
a knife and a loaf, and then she left the house ; 
running down the other side of the hill to gain 
the Krapenfelz, where our cow was with several 
others, under the charge of the old rag-dealer. 

“ This is a very bad business,” said George, fix- 
ing his eyes upon me ; “ that Landwehr will de- 
nounce you : this evening the Prussian gendarmes 
will be here. I’m sure I don’t know, my poor 
Christian, where you got that girl from ; amongst 
those who have gone before us, there must have 
been some very different from your poor mother, 
and grandmother Katherine.” 

What would you have,” said Marie Anne ; 
‘^she is fond of her Jean Baptiste.” And I 
thought: ‘^If he but had her now; it is not I 
would refuse them permission to marry now ; no, 
not I. I only wish they were married already ! ” 

I was thinking how I might settle this danger- 
ous business. George said we must overtake the 
Landwehr, and slip three or four cent-sous pieces 
in his hand, to induce him to hold his tongue : 
the Prussians are softened with money. But 
where could he be found now ? How was he to 
be overtaken ? I had no longer my two beautiful 
nags. So I resolved to leave it all to Providence 


336 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


To my great surprise, the Landwehr never re* 
turned. That same day two other Germans, with 
Lieutenant Hartig, came to take an invoice of the 
flour, without mentioning that affair: one would 
have thought that nothing had occurred. The 
next day, and the day after that, we were still in 
painful expectation ; but that man gave no sign 
of appearing. No doubt he must have been a 
marauder ; one of those base fellows who enter 
houses without orders, to receive requisitions of 
every kind, to sell again in the neighboring vil- 
lages : such things had been done more than once 
since the arrival of the Germans. This is the 
conclusion I came to by and by ; but at that time 
the fear of seeing that fellow returning with the 
gendarmes, left me no peace ; every minute my 
wife, standing at the door, would say : “ Christian, 
run ! Here are the Prussian gendarmes coming ! ” 

For a cow, or a Jew astride upon a donkey at 
the end of the road, she would throw one into fits. 

Gredel remained a week in the woods in the 
Krapenfelz. Every day the woodman brought 
her. news of what was going on in the village. 
At last she came back, laughing ; she went up 
into lierroom to change her clothes, and resumed 
her work without any allusion to the past. We 
did not want to start the subject of Jean Baptiste 
again; but she herself, seeing us dispirited, at 
last said to us : Pooh ! it’s all right now 
There ; look at that ! ” 


STOnr OF THE PLkBmOITE. 337 

It wai3 a letter from Jean Baptiste Werner, 
which she had received among the rocks on the 
Krapenfelz. In that letter, which I read with 
much astonishment, Werner related that he had 
at first wished to join Garibaldi at Dijon; but 
that for want of money he had been obliged to 
stop at Besan 9 on, where the volunteers of the 
Y osges and of Alsace wei-e being organized ; 
that upon the arrival of Bourbaki, he had en- 
listed as a gunner in the 20th corps. Two days 
after there were engagements at Espi’els and 
Yillersexel, where more than four thousand 
Prussians had remained on the field. The cold 
was extraordinary. The Prussians, repulsed by 
our columns, had retired from village to village, 
on the other side of the Lisaine, between Montb4- 
liard and Mont Yaudois. There Werner, behind 
a deep ravine, had mounted batteries of twenty 
four-pounders, well protected on three stages, one 
over another; his army and his reinforcements 
were concentrated and securely intrenched. In 
spite of this, Bourbaki, wanting to relieve Belfort 
and descend into Alsace, had given orders for a 
general assault, and all that country, for three 
days, resembled a sea of smoke and flame under 
the tremendous fire of the hostile armies. Un- 
happily, the passage could not be f creed; and 
the exhaustion of munitions, the fatigue, the 
sharp sufferings of cold and hunger — for there 
were no stores of clothing and provisions in our 
15 


338 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

rear — all these causes had compelled us to retire 
but in the hope of renewing the assault ; when 
all at once the news spread that another German 
army was standing in our line of retreat, near 
Dole: a considerable army, from Paris. They 
had liurried to get clear as far as possible by 
gaining Pontarlier; but these fresh troops had 
a great advantage over us. Werder, also, was 
following us up ; and we were going to be sur- 
rounded on all sides around Besan9on. Jean 
Baptiste went on to say that then Bourbaki had 
attempted his own life, and was seriously 
wounded ; that General Clinchamp had then 
assumed the command-in-chief; but that all 
these disasters would not have hindered us from 
arriving at Lyons, across the Jura, if the Maires 
of the villages had not published the armistice, 
causing the army to neglect to secure a line of 
retreat ; that a great number had even lain down 
their arms and withdrawn into the villages ; that 
the Prussians had kept advancing, and that only 
in the evening, when they had occupied all the 
passes, General Manteuffel declared that the 
armistice did not extend to operations in the 
east, and that our army must lay down their 
arms, as those of Sedan and Metz had done! 
But the soldiers of the republic refused to sur< 
render, and they had made a passage through 
the ice, the snow, and thousands of Pi-ussian 
corpses, to Switzerland. 


STOUT OF THE PL^IBISCITE. 


339 


Jean Baptiste Werner related, in this long let- 
ter, full particulars of all tliat he had suffered ; 
the attacks delivered by the coi-ps of General Bil- 
lot, who was charged to protect the retreat, upon 
the rocks, at the foot of precipices, in all the deep 
passes where the enemy lay in wait to cut off our 
retreat ; how many of our poor fellows had per- 
ished of cold and hunger I And then the admir- 
able reception given to our unhappy soldiers by 
the noble Swiss, who had received them not as 
strangers, but as brothers : every town, village, 
and house, was opened to them with kindness. 
It is manifest that the Swiss are a great people ; 
for greatness is not to be measured by the extent 
of a country, and tlie number of the inhabitants, 
as the Germans suppose ; but by the humanity of 
the people, the elevation of their character, their 
respect for unsuccessful courage, their love of 
justice and of liberty. 

How much help have the Swiss sent us in suc- 
cor, in money, in clothing, in food, in seed corn, 
for our poor fellow-countrymen ruined by the 
war ! It came t) Saverne, to Phalsbourg, to Pe- 
tite Pierre — everywhei*e. Ah, we perceived then 
that heaven and earth had not altogether desei-ted 
us ; we saw that there were yet brave hearts, true 
republicans ; that all men were not born for fire, 
pillage, and slaughter ; that there are men in the 
world besides hypocrites — true Christians, in- 
spired by Him who said to men : “ love one an- 


340 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


other ; je are brethen.” lie would not have 
invented petroleum bombshells, or declared tliat 
brute-force dominated over right, like those bar 
barians from the other side of the Rhine. 

That letter of Jean Baptiste Werner’s pleased 
me ; it was clear that he was a brave man and a 
good patriot. But in the meanwhile, the policy 
of Bismarck and Jules Favre went on its way. 
The order of the day was, “ elect deputies to sit 
in the assembly at Bordeaux,” which was to de- 
cide for peace, or the continuance of the war ; the 
twenty-one days’ armistice had no other object, it 
was said. 

So those who did not care to become Prussians 
took up arms, George and I the first ; myself with 
the greatest zeal, for every day I reproached my- 
self with that abominable Plebiscite as a crime. 
And now began the old story again : no Legiti- 
mists, no Bon apart ists, no Orleanists could bo 
found ; all cried : “ We are Republicans. Yote 
for us ! ” 

Blit in every part of the country through which 
the Prussians had gone, the Plebiscite was re- 
membered ; the people were beginning to under- 
stand that this unworthy farce was our ruin, and 
that men should be judged by their actions, not 
their words. 

At Strasbourg, at Raney, all who desired to 
remain French nominated two lists of old repub- 
licans, who immediately started for Bordeaux. 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Ml 


Ganibetta was elected by iis and by La Meurtbe ; 
he was also elected in many other departments, 
with Thiers, Garibaldi, Faidherbe, Chanzy, etc. 

These elections once more revived our hopes. 
We supposed that everything had taken place in 
the West and the South as with us. 

Gambetta, who never lost his sound judgment 
in critical moments, had declared that all the old 
official deputies of Bonaparte, all the senators, 
councillors of State, and prefects of the Empire, 
were disqualified for election. George com- 
mended him. “ When a spendthrift devours all 
his living in debauchery, he is put under re- 
straint ; much more, therefore,” he urged, “ ought 
men to be restrained who have devoured the 
wealth of the nation and put our two finest 
provinces in jeopardy. All these men ought for- 
ever to be held incapable of exercising political 
functions.” 

But Bismarck, who relied chiefly on the old 
Imperial functionaries, by way of testifying his 
gratitude to the honest man for all he had done 
for Prussia — for his noble behavior at Sedan, and 
his gift of Metz to his Majesty, William — pro- 
tested against this manifesto by Gambetta : he 
declared that the elections would not then be free, 
and that liberty was so dear to his heart, that ho 
had rather break the armistice than in any way 
cramp the freedom of the elections. 

George, on hearing this, broke out into a rage. 


342 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


What,” he cried, “ this Bismarck, who has 
warned the Prussian deputies to be careful of 
their expressions in speaking of the nobleness and 
the majesty of King William, ^ because laws exist 
in Prussia against servants who presume to insult 
their masters ’ — this very Bismarck comes here to 
defend liberty, and support the accomplices of 
Bonaparte ! Oh ! these defenders of liberty ! ” 

Unhappily, all this was useless ; the Prussians 
were already in the forts of Paris, and the 
menaces of Bismarck had more weight in France 
than tbe words of Gambetta. Therefore, once 
more we had to yield to his Majesty, William, and 
many of our deputies are indebted to him for 
their admission into the Chambers of Bordeaux. 

These defenders of the Pepublic immediately 
showed that they were not ungrateful to Bis- 
marck ; for they hissed Garibaldi, who had come 
from Italy, old, sick, and infirm, with his two 
sons, to fight the enemies of France, and uphold 
justice, when all Europe held aloof ! 

Garibaldi was not even allowed to reply : these 
representatives of the people hissed him down ! 
He calmly withdrew ! 

The Sunday following — I am ashamed to say 
it — our curd Daniel, and many other cures in our 
neighborhood, preached that Garibaldi was a 
canaille, I am not condemning them ; I am sim- 
ply stating a fact. They had received orders 
from their bishops, and they obeyed; for the 


8T0RT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


343 


poor country priest is at his bishop’s mercy, and 
under his orders, like a whip in a driver’s hand ; 
if he disobeys, he is turned out! I know that 
many would rather have been silent than said 
such things, and I pity them ! 

Well, Bismarck might well laugh ; he had 
more friends among us than was believed. Those 
who want to make their profits out of nations, al- 
ways come to an understanding; their interests 
and their enemies are the same. 

Then the Assembly of Bordeaux voted peace. 
No hard matter ; only involving the sacrifice of 
Alsace and Lorraine, and five milliards as an in- 
demnity for the trouble which the Prussians had 
taken in bombarding, devastating, and stripping 
us ! 

Then our unhappy deputies of Alsace and Lor- 
raine were declared to be German by their 
French brothers, against every feeling of justice ; 
for nobody in the world had the right to make 
Germans of us ; to rend us from the body of our 
French mother-country, and fiing us bleeding into 
the barbarian’s camp, as a lump of living fiesh is 
thrown to a wild beast, to satisfy it ; no, no one in 
the world had this right. We alone freely ought 
to choose, and decide by our own votes, whether 
we would become Germans or remain French. 
But with Bismarck and William, right, liberty^ 
and justice are powerless; might is everything 
Our sorrowing deputies at last protested : 


344 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


“ The representatives of Alsace and Lc rraine, 
previous to any negotiations for peace, have laid 
upon the table of the l^ational Assembly a dec- 
laration, by which they affirai, in the clearest and 
most emphatic language, that their will and their 
right is to remain Frenchmen. 

‘"Delivered up, in contempt of justice, and by a 
hateful exercise of power, to the dominion of the 
foreigner, we have one last sad duty to fulfil. 

“We again declare null and void a compact 
which disposes of us against our consent. 

“ The revindication of our rights remains for- 
ever open to each and all, after the form and in 
the measure which our consciences may dictate. 

“ In taking leave of this Chamber, in which it 
would be a lowering of our dignity to sit longer, 
and in spite of the bitterness of our sorrow, our 
last impulse is one of gratitude for the men who 
for six months have never ceased to defend us ; 
and we are filled with a deep and unalterable 
love for our mother-country, from which we are 
violently torn. 

“We will ever follow you with our prayers ; 
and with unshaken confidence we await the future 
day when regenerated France shall resume the 
course of her high destiny. 

“ Your brothers of Alsace and Lorraine, sepa- 
rated at this moment from the common family, 
away from their home, will ever cherish a filial 
affection for their beloved France, until the daj 


345 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

when she shall come to reclaim her place amoii^ 
us.” 

These were their words. 

Monsieur Thiers asked them if they knew anj> 
other way of saving France? ISTo reply was 
made. Unfortunately there was none : after the 
capitulation of Paris, the sacrifice of an arm was 
needful to save the body. 

Half the deputies were already thinking of 
other things ; peace made, they only thought of 
naming a king, and of decapitalizing Paris, as the 
newspapers said, to punish it for having pro- 
claimed the Pepublic ! All these people, who had 
presented themselves before the electors with pro- 
fessions of republicanism, were royalists. 

Gambetta, having accepted the representation 
of the Bas Phin (Alsace), left the chamber with 
the deputies ; and other old republicans, con- 
temptuously hissed whenever they opened their 
mouths, gave in their resignations. 

Paris was agitated. A rising was apprehended. 

About that time, early in March, 1871, Prus- 
sian tax-collectors, controllers, gardes generaux^ 
and other functionaries, came to replace our own ; 
we were warned that the French language would 
be abolished in our schools, and that the brave 
Alsacians who felt any wish to join the armies of 
the King of Prussia, would be met with every 
possible consideration ; they might even be ad- 
mitted into the guard of his Royal and Imperial 
15 * 


840 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


Majesty. About this time, an old fr. end of cousin 
George’s, Nicolas Hague, a master saddler, a 
wealthy and highly respectable man, came to see 
him from Paris. 

Nicolas Hague had bought many vineyards in 
Alsace ; he had planned, before the war, to retire 
amongst us, as soon as he had settled his affairs ; 
but after all the cruelties perpetrated by the Ger- 
mans, and seeing our country fallen into their 
hands, he was in haste to sell his vineyards again, 
not caring to live amongst such barbarians. 

George and Marie Anne were delighted to re- 
ceive this old friend ; and immediately an upstairs 
room was got ready for him, and he made himself 
at home. 

He was a man of fifty, with red ears, a kind of 
collar of beard around his face, large, velvet 
waistcoat adorned with gold chains and seals ; a 
thorough Alsacian, full of experience and sound 
common sense. 

His wife, a native of Bar-le-Duc, and his two 
daughters were staying with their relations ; they 
were resting, and recruiting their strength after 
the sufferings and agonies of the siege ; he was 
as busy as possible getting rid of his property ; 
for he looked upon it as a disgrace to bring into 
the world children destined to have their faces 
slapped in honor of the King of Prussia. 

I remember that on the second day after his 
arrival, as we were all dining together at my 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


341 


cousin’s, after having explained to us his views, 
Nicolas Hague began telling us the miseries of 
the siege of Paris. He told us that during the 
wh )le of that long winter, every day, were seen 
before the bakers’ shops and the butchers’ stalls 
strings of old men half clothed, and poor women 
holding their children, discolored with the cold, 
close in their arms, waiting three or four hours 
ill rain, snow, and wind, for a small piece of 
black bread, or of horse flesh ; which often 
never came I Never had he heard any of these 
unhappy people expressing any desire to surren- 
der ; but superior officers and staff officers had 
shamelessly declared, from the earliest days of 
the siege, that Paris could not hold out ! And 
these men, formerly so proud of their rank, their 
epaulettes, and their titles, who were solely charged 
to defend us, and to uphold the honor of the na- 
tion, discouraged by their language those who 
were trusting in them, and whose bread they had 
eaten for years passed in useless reviews and pa- 
rades, in frivolous fetes at St. Cloud, at Com- 
piegne, the Tuileries, and elsewhere. 

According to Nicolas Hague, all our disasters, 
from Sedan to the capitulation of Paris, w^ere at- 
tributable to the disaffection of the staff officers, 
the committees, and those former Bonapartist 
place-holders, who knew well that if the Pepub- 
lic drove out the Prussians, nobody in the world 


348 


STORY OF THE PLEBISGIIE. 


would be able to destroy it ; and as they did not 
care for the Eepublic, they acted accordingly. 

“ Tliere is a great outcry at the present mo- 
ment against General Trochu,” said he, princi- 
pally got up by the Bonapartists, who, in theii 
hearts, reproach him with having supported 
France rather than their dynasty. They make 
him responsible for all our calamities ; and many 
Republicans are simple enough to believe them 
But, when it is remembered that this man arrived 
only at the last moment, when all was lost al 
ready; when the Prussians were advancing by 
forced marches upon Paris ; when MacMahon 
was forsaking the capital, hy order of the Erri' 
jyeror^ to go to Sedan, to get the army crushed 
down there which was to have covered us ; when 
it is remembered that at that moment Paris had 
no arms, no munitions of war, no provisions, no 
troops; that the whole neighborhood, men, wo- 
men, and children, were taking refuge in the city ; 
that waggons full of furniture, hay, and straw 
were choking the streets ; that order had to be 
restored amidst this abominable confusion, the 
forts armed, the E'ational Guard organized, the 
inhabitants put upon rations, etc. ; and, then, that 
all those thousands of men, who did not know 
even how to keep in ranks, were to be taught to 
handle a musket, to march, and, finally, led un- 
der fire ; — when all these things are remembered, 
it must be acknowledged that, for one man, it 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


349 


was too much, and that, if faults have been com* 
mitted, it is not General Trochu who is to be 
blamed, but the miserable men who brought us 
to such a pass. Above all, let us be just. It is 
quite clear that, if General Trochu had had un- 
der his orders real soldiers, commanded by real 
officers, he might have made great sorties, broken 
the lines, or at least kept the Germans busy round 
the place. But how could I, Kicolas Hague, sad- 
dler, Claude Frichet, the grocer round the corner, 
and a couple of hundred thousand others like us, 
who did not even know the word of command — 
how could we fight like old troops? We were 
not wanting in good will, nor in courage ; but 
every man to his trade. As for our percussion 
rifles and our flint locks, and a hundred other dis- 
couraging things, you feel utterly cast down when 
you know tlmt the enemy are well armed and 
supported by a terrible artillery. Trochu was 
well aware of these things ; and 1 believe that 
neither he, nor Jules Favre, nor Gambetta, nor 
any of those who declared themselves Eepubli- 
cans on the 4th of September, are responsible for 
our misfortunes, but only Bonaparte and his 
crew ! ” 

A t last, having heard Nicolas Hague explain 
his views, seeing that we had been delivered up 
by selflsh men — as Cousin Jacques Desjardins 
had foreseen four months before — but that the 
Republic was in existence, and that no doubt jus- 


350 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


tice would be done upon all who liad bro light us 
into this sad condition, by which means we might 
rise some day and get our turn, I had resolved tc 
sell my mill, my land, and everything that be- 
longed to me in the country, and go and settle in 
France ; for the sight of Placiard and tlie other 
Prussian functionaries, who were fraternizing to- 
gether, and shouting, “ Long live old Germany ! ” 
made my blood boil. I could not stand it. 

Cousin George, to whom I mentioned my de- 
sign, said : Then, if all the Alsacians and Lor- 
rainers go, in five or six years all our country will 
be Prussian. Instead of going to America, the 
Germans will, pour in here by hundreds of thou- 
sands ; they will find in our country, almost for 
nothing, fields, meadows, vineyards, hop-grounds, 
noble forests, the finest lands, the richest and 
most productive in central Europe. How de- 
lighted would Bismarck and William be if they 
saw us decamping ! Ho, no ; Pll stay. But this 
does not mean that I am becoming a Prussian — 
cjuite the contrary. But in this ill-drawn treaty 
there are two good articles ; the first affirms that 
the Alsacians and the Lorrainers, dwelling in 
Alsace and Lorraine, may, up to the month of 
October, 1872, declare their intention of remain- 
ing French, on condition of possessing an estate 
in France ; the second affirms that the French 
may retain their landed estates in Germany. 

‘^Well, I at once elect to remain a Frenchman 


STORY OF THE PL^JBISCITE. 


351 


and I take up my abode in Paris with my friend 
Nicolas Hague, who Avill be happy to do me this 
service. I don’t want to become a burgomaster, a 
municipal councillor, or anything of that kind ; it 
will be enough for me to possess good land, a 
thriving business, and a pleasant house. Yes — I 
intend to declare at once ; and if all who are 
able to secure an abode in France will do as I am 
doing, we shall have German authorities over us, 
it is true, but the land and the people will remain 
French and the land and the men are everything. 

“ Were not the old prefets and sous-prefets of 
the honest man intruders, just as much as these 
men are ? Did they care for anything but making 
us pay what the chambers had voted, and com- 
pelling us to elect for deputies old fogies who 
would be safe to vote whichever way the Emper- 
or required them ? Did they trouble themselves 
about us, our commer(;e, our trade, any farther 
than merely to draw from us the best part of our 
profits for themselves, their friends, their acquaint- 
ances, and all the supporters of the dynasty of 
the perjurer ? 

“ These new prefets, these Jcreis-directors^ these 
burgomasters, set over us to defend the Prussian 
dynasty, will not concern us much more than the 
others did. At first they will try mildness ; and 
as we have been well able to remain French under 
the prefets of Bonaparte, so we may live and re- 
main French under those of Emperor William. 


352 


8T0BT OF TEE PLEBISCITE. 


My principal concern is that a large majority 
should declare as I am about to do. The fear is 
lest the Placiards, and other mayors of the Em- 
pire kept in their places by the Prussians, will be 
able to turn aside the people from declaring 
themselves as Frenchmen, by intimidating them 
with threats of being looked upon suspiciously, or 
even of being expelled ; the fear is lest tliese fel- 
lows should keep back day after day those who 
are afraid of deciding : for when once the day is 
past, those who have not declared for France will 
be Prussians — their children will serve and be 
subject to blows at the age of twenty, for old 
Germany ; and those who have already fled into 
France will be forced to return or renounce their 
inheritance forever. 

“ My chief hope now is that the French jour- 
nals, which are always so busy saying useless 
things, will now, without fail, warn the Alsacians 
and Lorrainers of their danger, and explain to 
them that if they declare for France their per- 
sons and their property will be guaranteed in 
safety by the treaty ; but if they neglect to do so, 
their persons and their property fall under the 
Prussian laws. They would even do well to fur- 
nish a clear and simple form of declaration. By 
this step, all who are interested would be clearly 
informed, and these papers would have done the 
greatest service to France. 

“ As for me, here I stay ! I am here upon my 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


353 


own land ; I have bought it ; I have paid for it 
with the sweat of my brow. I will pay the taxes ; 
I will hold my tongue, that I may be neither 
worried nor driven away. I will sell my crops to 
the Germans as dearly as I can ; I will employ 
none but Frenchmen; and if the Eepublic ac- 
quires strength, as I hope it will — for now the 
people see what Monarchies have been able to do 
for us — if the nation transacts its own business 
wisely, sensibly, with moderation, good order, 
and reflection, she will soon rise again, and will 
once more become powerful. In ten years our 
.osses will be repaired : we shall possess well-in- 
formed constituencies, national armies, upright 
administrations, a commissariat, and a staff very 
different from that which we have known. 

“Then let the French return; they will find 
us, as before, ready to receive them with open 
arms, and to march at their sides. 

“ But if they pursue their old course of couj^s 
cPetat and revolutions; if the adventurers, the 
Jesuits, and the egotists form another coalition 
against justice ; if they recommence their dis- 
graceful farces of plebiscites and constitutions by 
yes and no, with bayonets pointed at people’s 
throats and with electors of whom one-half can- 
not read ; if they bestow places again by patron- 
age and recommendation of friends, instead of 
honestly throwing them open to competition ; if 
they refuse elementary education and compulsory 


354 


STOUT OF TEE PLEBISCITE, 


military service; if they will have, as in past 
times, an ignorant populace, and an army filled 
with mercenaries, in order that tlzesons of nobles 
and bourgeois may remain peaceably at home, 
whilst the poor labor like beasts of burden, and go 
and meet their deaths upon battle-fields for mat- 
ters they have no concern with : — in a word, if 
they overthrow the Eepublic and set up Monarchy 
again, then what miseries may we not expect ? 
Poor France, rent by her own children, will end 
like Poland ; all our conquests of ’89 will be lost. 
Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, all the free 
nations of the Continent will share our fate ; the 
great splay feet of the Germans will overspread 
Europe, and we unhappy Alsacians and Lorrain- 
ers will be forced to bow the head under the yoke, 
or go off to America.” 

This speech of George’s made me reflect, and I 
resolved to wait. 

Many Alsacians and Lorrainers have thought 
the same ; and this is why M. Thiers was right in 
saying that the Eepublic is the form of govern- 
ment which least divides us ; it is also the only 
one which can save us. Any other form of gov- 
ernment upon which Legitimists, Orleanists, and 
Bonapartists could well meet on common ground, 
would end in our destruction. If it should hap- 
pen that one of these parties succeeds in placing 
its prince upon the throne, the next day all the 
others would unite and overthrow it; and the 


STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 355 

Germans, taking advantage of our division, would 
seize upon the Franche Comte and Champagne. 

The Deputies of the Right ought to reflect well 
upon this. It is to reinstate the coi.ntry, not a 
party, that they are at YersaiTes ; it is to restore 
harmony to our distracted country, and not to sow 
fresh dissensions. I appeal to their patriotism, 
and, if this is not enough, to their prudence. 
New Goujps-d^ etat would precipitate us into fresh 
revolutions more and more terrible. The nation, 
whose desire is for peace, labor, order, liberty, 
education, and justice for all, is weary of seeing 
itself torn to pieces by Emperors and Kings ; the 
nation might become exasperated against these 
iinglers after Kings in troubled waters, and the 
consequences might become terrible indeed. 

Let them ponder well ; it is their duty to do so. 

And all these princes, too — all these shameless 
pretenders, who make no scruple of coming to 
divide us at the crisis when union alone can save 
us — when the German is occupying all the strong 
places on the frontier, and is watching the oppor- 
tunity to rend away another portion of our coun- 
try ! These men who slip into the army througli 
favor ; whose disaffected newspapers impede tlie 
revival of trade, in the hope of disgusting the 
people with the Republic! These princes who 
one day pledge their word of honor, and the day 
after withdraw it, and who are not ashamed to 
claim millions in the midst of the general ruin. 


358 


STOUT OF THE PLEBISCITE. 


Yes , these men must conduct themselves differ 
ently, if they don’t wish to call to remembrance 
their father Louis Philippe, intriguing with the 
Bonapartists to dethrone his benefactor Charles 
X. ; and their grandfather, Philippe Egalitd, in- 
triguing with the Jacobins and voting the death 
of Louis XYI. to save his fortune, whilst his son 
was intriguing in the army of the Xorth with the 
traitor Dumouriez to march upon Paris and over- 
throw the established laws. 

But the day of intrigues has passed by ! 

Bonaparte has stripped many besides these 
Princes of Orleans; he has shot, transported, 
totally ruined fathers of families by thousands ; 
their wives and their children have lost all ! Not 
one of these unhappy creatures claim a farthing ; 
they would be ashamed to ask anything of their 
country at such a time as this; the Princes of 
Orleans, alone, claim their millions. 

Frankly, this is not handsome. 

I am but a plain miller ; by hard work I have 
won the half of what I possess : but if my little 
fortune and my life could restore Alsace and Lor- 
raine to France, I would give them in a moment ; 
and if my person were a cause of division and 
trouble, and dangerous to the peace of my coun- 
try, I would abandon the mill built by my ances- 
tors, the lands which they have cleared, those 
which I have acquired by work and by saving, 
and I would go ! The idea that I was serving my 


STORY OF THE PL^BISOITE, 


357 


country, that I was helping to raise it, would be 
enough for me. Yes, I would go, with a full 
heart, but without a backward glance. 

And now let us finish the story of the Plebis- 
cite. 

Jacob returned to work at the mill ; Jean Bap- 
tiste Werner also came back to demand Gredel 
in marriage. Gredel consented with all her 
heart ; my wife and I gave our consent cordially 

But the dowry ? This was on Gredel’s mind. 
She was not the girl to begin housekeeping with- 
out her hundred livres ! So 1 liad again to run the 
water out of the sluice to the very bottom, get 
into the mud again, and once more handle the 
pick and spade. 

Gredel watched me ; and when the old chest 
came to the light of day with its iron hoops, when 
I had set it on the bank, and opened the rusty 
padlock, and the crowns all safe and sound glit- 
tered in her eyes, then she melted; all was well 
now ; she even kissed me and hung upon her 
mother’s neck. 

The wedding took place on the 1st of July 
last ; and in spite of the unhappy times, was a 
joyful one. 

Towards the end of the fete, and when they 
were uncorking two or three more bottles of old 
wine, in honor of M. Thiers and all the good 
men who are supporting him in founding the Ee- 
public in France, Cousin George announced to 


358 STORY OF THE PLEBISCITE. 

us that he had taken Jean Baptiste Werner into 
partnership in his stone quarry. Building stone 
will be wanted ; the bombardments and the fires 
in Alsace will long furnish work for architects, 
quarrymen, and masons : it will be a great and 
important business. 

My cousin declared, moreover, that he, George 
Weber, would supply the money required ; that 
Jean Baptiste should travel to take orders and 
work the quarries, and they would divide the 
profits equally. 

M. Fingado, notary, seated at the table, drew 
the deeds out of his pocket, and read them to us, 
to the satisfaction of all. 

And now things are in order, and we will try 
to regain by labor, economy, and good conduct, 
what Bonaparte lost for us by his Plebiscite. 

My story is ended ; let every one derive from 
it such reflections and instruction as he may. 








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